Epicephala spinula

Epicephala spinula
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Division:	Ditrysia
Superfamily:	Gracillarioidea
Family:	Gracillariidae
Subfamily:	Gracillariinae
Genus:	Epicephala
Species:	E. spinula
Binomial name
Epicephala spinula J.F.G.Clarke, 1986

Epicephala spinula is a moth of the family Gracillariidae, one of the most primitive groups of ditrysian "micromoths". Within its family, it belongs to the subfamily Gracillariinae. Even though it was first scientifically studied in 1929, for many decades the specimens of this moth were mistaken for the related Australian species E. colymbetella, and their distinctness was only realized in 1986. It is found on the Marquesas Islands, where it occurs at least on Nuku Hiva, Ua Pou, and Fatu Hiva, and though little-known it is apparently not uncommon. The holotype specimen, a female, is USNM 100839.

E. spinula is a small moth, slightly larger than E. colymbetella (9–12 mm – almost 0.5 in – in wingspan) and resembling it in coloration and pattern. The head and thorax are white; the labial palps are generally also white, but shaded somewhat greyish on the outside, except for the base of the second segment. The antennae, the tegula and the upperside of the abdomen are reddish grey, the antennae becoming lighter towards the tip, while the underside of the abdomen is white with reddish stripes; the males' abdomen has two pairs of coremata. The legs are white, with a blackish-brown suffusion in the outer side of the forelegs, and reddish spots on the mid- and hindleg tibiae, in the former there are three such marks, while on the hindlegs there is only one, near the tip of the tibia.

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