A 130-Year-Old Specimen Brought Back to Life: A Lost Species of Bee-Mimicking Clearwing Moth, Heterosphecia tawonoides (Lepidoptera: Sesiidae: Osminiini), Rediscovered in Peninsular Malaysia’s Primary Rainforest

Abstract

Heterosphecia tawonoides Kallies, a ''lost'' species of clearwing moth known only from a single specimen from 1887 (the holotype, which is missing important morphological features), was observed and filmed for the first time in its natural habitat. Our studies have shown that it is associated with Malaysian primary lowland dipterocarp forests, ecosystems which are vanishing rapidly due to extensive human activity. This is the first record of H. tawonoides in Malaysia. Behavioral aspects, such as mud-puddling among bees and acoustic mimicry, are discussed and shown in a video. A morphological redescription, including features visible on live individuals only, is provided. The DNA barcode sequence is given, with comparison to closely related species.

The re-discovery in Sumatra of a rarely seen moth, Heterosphecia tawonoides, and its identification using citizen science platform iNaturalist.

“…(see Table 1 Species identification sequence on iNaturalist). A comparison with the holotype (Kallies, 2003) and with descriptions of its observation in Malaysia (Skowron Volponi & Volponi, 2017) shows that our observation also has the novel morphological features only visible on a live specimenblue wing sheen, blue and white hair like scales on all tibia, elongated white hair like scales on hind tibia. (see Here we show that high quality photographic records can be used to identify a poorly known and rarely seen species of moth using iNaturalist in the field.…”

“…Heterosphecia is a genus of moths in the family Sesiidae found in Borneo, Sumatra and South India. There are eight known species with few records, and their conservation status is unknown (GBIF 2022 b; M. A. Skowron Volponi & Volponi, 2017). Heterosphecia tawonoides was first described in 2003 using a specimen collected from an unknown location in Sumatra in 1887 (Kallies, 2003).…”

“…It was observed and filmed for the first time in its natural habitat in Malaysia 2013 exhibiting puddling behaviour and bee mimicry which are only possible to see on live specimens. (M. A. Skowron Volponi & Volponi, 2017).…”

Moving like a model: mimicry of hymenopteran flight trajectories by clearwing moths of Southeast Asian rainforests

“…Clearwing moths (Lepidoptera: Sesiidae) are a textbook example of Batesian mimicry, being non-toxic insects that imitate various bees and wasps to gain protection from predators. Their morphological resemblance to hymenopterans is widely known, but the evidence for behavioural mimicry in Sesiidae has thus far only been anecdotal [1][2][3][4][5][6]. Webster [3, p.67] suggested as early as 1897 that: (.…”

A new species of wasp-mimicking clearwing moth from Peninsular Malaysia with DNA barcode and behavioural notes (Lepidoptera, Sesiidae)

“…Although P. ellawi occurs in the same locations as H. pahangensis and H. tawonoides , which are known to be bee mimics in both morphology and behaviour (Skowron et al 2015; Skowron Volponi and Volponi 2017), and shows similar mud-puddling behaviour, it flies in a completely different manner and cannot be confused with these two species. However, in the field, it had been repeatedly confused with Eumeninae (potter) wasps, whose rapid flight it closely resembles.…”