Epitamyra thermalis, Pyralidae, jamaica, ss and wd duckworth
Epitamyra thermalis, Pyralidae, jamaica, ss and wd duckworth
Ahhhhhh, something new under the sun. Alma Solis a USDA entomologist showed me these specimens of the smallish moth Epitamyra thermalis. After finding essentially nothing about these moths and the super cool sound structure on these male's wings I wrote Alma and she replied: "Sam, you are venturing into scientific NEW information. There is probably nothing on-line about this. I know of one article in the literature and the morphology is buried in dissertations and taxonomic papers.
Only paper on sound production relating specifically to this was by Hannemann, 1956 [in German]. He found that in certain chrysauginae (Pyralidae) the forewing retinaculum (where the frenulum fits) is thickened, with a file on its inside surface, and pressed against the wing membrane. The frenulum scrapes against the file on the retinaculum to produce sound that is amplified by the resonating chamber [cone-like structure that you have imaged] on the upper surface of the forewing.
My note: This structure is found on many, but not all, chrysaugine species and only on males. Presumably, these structures are part of the mating behavior that has never been reported or described."
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