Galapagos Species Database
The Galapagos Species Database shares the information about the species from our Natural History Collections.
Amyna insularum
Male . — Head and thorax dark mouse gray, the palpi with whitish irrorations, the scales on head, collar, and patagia finely tipped with whitish gray; abdomen mouse gray above, the dorsal tuft like thoracic scales, the underside and thorax below whitish, the venter with some dark mouse gray scaling; legs mottled dark mouse gray and white, the tarsi above black with white rings. Fore wing deep mouse gray, the scales finely tipped with whitish gray, the lines velvety black; subbasal line macular; antemedial line sinuous inangled above submedian, the fovea preceding it edged above with black; a medial shade from subcostal suffusing below cell on interspaces with postmedial; reniform very indistinct, sometimes with lower part filled in with white; postmedial line outcurved beyond cell, dentate with a few white scales at points; subterminal line black, proximally diffuse, distally sinuous; an interrupted terminal black line; four oblique white lines on costa before apex; a few white scales on cilia. Hind wing chaetura drab, faintly whitish at base of costa; a dark postmedial line defined by paler outer edge; cilia tipped with white on apical half. Fore wing below deep mouse gray, the costa paler with dark irrorations; a minutely lunular postmedial line. Hind wing below whitish thickly irrorated with mouse gray; a dark point on discocellular; postmedial line as on fore wing; an interrupted terminal black line; cilia shining white or gray (Schaus, 1923).
Widespread, coastal regions; abundant; individuals at beginning of season may be smaller. At rest the wings are held flat and extended backwards, so that the insect assumes a characteristically triangular outline. Foodplants. Alternanthera echinocephala, A. filifolia. Larva. Pale green with darker lines.
Domain
Eukaryota
Kingdom
Animalia
Phylum
Arthropoda
Class
Insecta
Order
Lepidoptera
Superfamily
Noctuoidea
Family
Noctuidae
Genus
Amyna
Species
insularum
Taxon category: Accepted
Origin: Endemic
Map of specimen collection localities or observation records for this species in our collections database.
Distribution: Santa Cruz (Schaus, 1923), Baltra, Española, Fernandina, Floreana, Gardner near Española, Genovesa, Isabela, Pinzón, Rábida, San Cristóbal, Santa Fe, Santiago (Hayes, 1975), Marchena Seymour Norte, Wolf (Roque, 2006).
- Hayes, A.H. (1975) The larger moths of the Galápagos Islands (Geometroidea: Sphingoidea & Noctuoidea). Proc. Calif. Acad. Sc., 4th series, 40(7): 145-208.
- Linsley, E.G. (1977) Insects of the Galápagos (Supplement). Occassional Papers of the Califoria Academy of Sciences 125: 1-50.
- Linsley, E.G. Usinger, R.L. (1966) Insects of the Galápagos Islands. Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences Fourth Series 33(7): 113-196.
- Parkin, P. Parkin D.T., Ewing, A.W. & Ford, H.A. (1972) A report on the arthropods collected by the Edinburgh University Galapagos Islands Expedition, 1968. The Pan-pacific Entomologist 48: 100-107.
- Roger Perry Tjitte de Vries (2003) Notes on the distribution and breeding ecology of Galapagos lepidoptera Revista Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador
- Roque-Albelo, L. Landry, B. (2016) CDF Checklist of Galapagos Butterflies and Moths Charles Darwin Research Station, Puerto Ayora, Ecuador, 32 pp.
- Roque-Albelo, L. (2006) Diversity and ecology of the Lepidoptera in the Galápagos Islands, Ecuador Cardiff University (United Kingdom)
- Schaus, W. (1923) Galápagos Heterocera with descriptions of new species. Zoologica, Scientific Contributions of the New York Zoological Society 5(2): 22-48.
- Silberglied, R.E. (1978) Inter-island transport of insects aboard ships in the Galápagos Islands. Biol. Conserv. 13(4): 273-278.
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This page should be cited as follows:
"Galapagos Species Database, Amyna insularum", dataZone. Charles Darwin Foundation, https://datazone.darwinfoundation.org/en/checklist/?species=7087. Accessed 31 October 2026.