Phassodes
Genus of moths
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Phassodes is a moth genus of the family Hepialidae. As of 2018[update], it is monospecific, consisting of the sole species Phassodes vitiensis; this species is very variable. It is found in Fiji and Samoa.[4] The life cycle is unknown but the larva is presumed to feed underground on the roots of plants or decaying matter.[5]
| Phassodes | |
|---|---|
| |
| Six specimens from Viti Levu, Fiji | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Lepidoptera |
| Family: | Hepialidae |
| Genus: | Phassodes Bethune-Baker, 1905[1] |
| Type species | |
| Phassodes odorevalvula Bethune-Baker, 1905[1] | |
| Species | |
| |
| Synonyms[2] | |
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Species: | |
Taxonomic history
The British entomologist George Thomas Bethune-Baker first circumscribed the genus Phassodes in 1905. He included six species, all of which he described in the same work.[1] In 1950, the French entomologist Pierre Viette synonymized Bethune-Baker's P. nausori with P. vitiensis;[6] P. vitiensis was first described by Walter Rothschild in 1895.[3]
