''Erechthias grayi'' is a

moth Moths are a paraphyletic group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not butterflies, with moths making up the vast majority of the order. There are thought to be approximately 160,000 species of moth, many of w ...

of the family

Tineidae Tineidae is a family of moths in the order Lepidoptera described by Pierre André Latreille in 1810. Collectively, they are known as fungus moths or tineid moths. The family contains considerably more than 3,000 species in more than 300 genera. ...

. It is endemic to

Ascension Island Ascension Island is an isolated volcanic island, 7°56′ south of the Equator in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is about from the coast of Africa and from the coast of South America. It is governed as part of the British Overseas Territory o ...

. The length of the forewings is 1.4–1.8 mm. This wing reduction occurs in both sexes. It is one of the few species of Lepidoptera known where this extreme of

brachyptery Brachyptery is an anatomical condition in which an animal has very reduced wings. Such animals or their wings may be described as "brachypterous". Another descriptor for very small wings is microptery. Brachypterous wings generally are not functi ...

involving both sexes has evolved. The forewings are dark fuscous with an irregular scattering of dull white scales at the base of the wing and mostly crossing the wing beyond the middle. There is a slightly larger concentration of dull white scales at the apex and extending a short distance along the costa. The hindwings are minute, slightly variable in size and without scales. The behavior of the moths in the field is unusual. They cling firmly to the bare rock, lichens and small plants in exposed situations and were only seen to move when disturbed, and then reluctantly. They only hop a few inches in a very bug-like manner. The larvae are most likely lichenivorous. Several small (3.5–4.2 mm long) mature larval cases, some with pupal exuviae attached were collected under lichen covered rocks. It is likely that these are the larval cases of ''E. grayi''. These cases are mostly white, speckled with small grains of sand and minute, dark fragments from the rocky substrate.

Etymology

The species name is a patronym for Alan Gray, a botanist who assisted Howard Mendel with the collection of this species on Ascension Island.Davis, D.R.; Mendel, H. 2013: The genus Erechthias Meyrick of Ascension Island, including discovery of a new brachypterous species (Lepidoptera, Tineidae). ZooKeys, 341: 1-20. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.341.6146

References

Moths described in 2013 Erechthiinae {{Tineidae-stub