The Light-loving Noctuid moth, Agrotis photophila was a species of moth

Moth

A moth is an insect closely related to the butterfly, both being of the order Lepidoptera. Moths form the majority of this order; there are thought to be 150,000 to 250,000 different species of moth , with thousands of species yet to be described...

 in the Noctuidae

Noctuidae

The Noctuidae or owlet moths are a family of robustly-built moths that includes more than 35,000 known species out of possibly 100,000 total, in more than 4,200 genera. They constitute the largest family in the Lepidoptera....

 family. It was endemic to Oahu Island

Oahu

Oahu or Oahu , known as "The Gathering Place", is the third largest of the Hawaiian Islands and most populous of the islands in the U.S. state of Hawaii. The state capital Honolulu is located on the southeast coast...

, Hawaii

Hawaii

Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...

, United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

.

This moth was last reported around 1900. Two dead specimens are preserved in the British Museum

British Museum

The British Museum is a museum of human history and culture in London. Its collections, which number more than seven million objects, are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its...

. These had been collected near Honolulu in the 19th century. At that time the species was already rare.

These dead specimens have been described thus:

35—40 mm. Antennae in ,? bidentate with long triangular processes. Fore-
wings light greyish-ochreous sprinkled with fuscous ; subbasal, first, and second lines
indicated by more or less distinct blackish dots, first and second sometimes forming
undefined waved lines ; posterior edge of reniform sometimes indicated by black
scales ; traces of a darker praesubterminal shade ; a terminal series of dark fuscous
dots. Hindwings light greyish-ochreous, posteriorly infuscated.

Sources

• Hawaii extinct species
• Recent extinctions
• World Conservation Monitoring Centre 1996.
• Agrotis photophila.
• 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Downloaded on 31 July 2007.