Colourful moth confused with common species for over a century turns out to be new
Entomologist Dr Peter Huemer at the Tyrolean State Museum Ferdinandeum in Innsbruck, Austria, has identified a new moth species that was mistaken for the widespread oak carcina for more than a century. The new species, Carcina ingridmariae, has a wingspan of about 2 cm and appears across the eastern Mediterranean from Croatia and Greece to Cyprus and Turkey. DNA barcoding revealed genetic differences of more than 6 percent from the lookalike relative, and analysis of the insects' sexual organs confirmed the molecular findings. Dr Huemer, who has described more than 200 species from Europe over 35 years, named the moth after his wife, Ingrid Maria, on their 42nd wedding anniversary. He called it the prettiest species he has encountered in his long scientific career.
The discovery shows how DNA techniques can reveal distinct species that have been hiding in plain sight, even among familiar and colourful insects that were first described in 1775.
Source: eurekalert.org.
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