''Metaphatus adustus'' 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

Palaephatidae Palaephatoidea is a superfamily of insects in the order Lepidoptera with a single family, Palaephatidae with seven known genera. These "Gondwanaland moths" exhibit a disjunct distribution occurring mainly in South America (Davis, 1986), with fou ...

. It was described by Donald R. Davis in 1986."A New Family of Monotrysian Moths from Austral South America (Lepidoptera: Palaephatidae), with a Phylogenetic Review of the Monotrysia"
by Donald R. Davis. It is found in the temperate forests and outlying areas of southern montane

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

and south-central

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

. The length of the forewings is 7.5–9.5 mm for males and 9–11 mm for females. Adults have medium to dark brown forewings with typically two small, dark brown discal spots. They are on wing from September to March, probably in multiple generations per year.

Etymology

The specific name is derived from Latin ''adustus'' (meaning brown or tanned) and refers to the uniformly brown forewings of this species.

References

Moths described in 1986 Palaephatidae Taxa named by Donald R. Davis (entomologist) {{Palaephatoidea-stub