Hemiceratoides hieroglyphica
Species of moth
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Hemiceratoides hieroglyphica is a moth from Madagascar. It was discovered in 2006 that it frequents sleeping birds at night, and drinks their tears, using a specialized, harpoon-like proboscis.[1] Tear-feeding moths outside of Madagascar (for example Mecistoptera griseifusa in the Hypeninae subfamily) are not directly related to this species, and have evolved dissimilar mechanisms for drinking from large animals like deer or crocodiles.
| Hemiceratoides hieroglyphica | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Clade: | Pancrustacea |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Lepidoptera |
| Superfamily: | Noctuoidea |
| Family: | Erebidae |
| Genus: | Hemiceratoides |
| Species: | H. hieroglyphica |
| Binomial name | |
| Hemiceratoides hieroglyphica (Saalmüller, 1891) | |
| Synonyms | |
| |
The adults have a wingspan of 52 mm.[2]
Distribution
This species is known from Nigeria, South Africa and Madagascar.[3]
