Hyposmocoma alliterata

Hyposmocoma alliterata
Illustrations in Fauna Hawaiiensis: I5· Hyposmocoma phantasmatella, 16. Hyposmocoma ossea, 17· Hyposmocoma argentea, 18. Hyposmocoma subargentea, 19· Hyposmocoma lactea, 20. Hyposmocoma lacticretella, 21. Hyposmocoma persimilis, 22. Hyposmocoma trimaculata, 23· Hyposmocoma albonivea, 24· Hyposmocoma carbonentata, 25· Hyposmocoma alliterata, 26. Hyposmocoma nigrodentata, 27. Hyposmocoma obliterata, 28. Hyposmocoma bacillella
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Cosmopterigidae
Genus: Hyposmocoma
Species: H. alliterata
Binomial name
Hyposmocoma alliterata
Walsingham, 1907

Hyposmocoma alliterata is a species of moth of the Cosmopterigidae family. It is endemic to Oahu, Molokai, Maui and Hawaii. This species is thought to range from the lowlands to the highlands, where it is most abundant.

The larvae feed amongst lichens on trees trunks of Acacia koa, Aleurites moluccana, Boehmeria, Manihot glaziovii, Prosopis and Sophora. Its larvae are at times common on the trunks of living trees.

Larvae in a broad, flat, rounded-oval case coming to a point in front. The case really is not so broad, but has a broad extension on sides and rear made of a single layer of round bits of epidermis from the bark, forming a mosaic of the coloration of the bark of the tree on which it lives, and thus not seen by the casual observer

— Swezey, 1910:140

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