Prototheora merga is 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...

 of the Prototheoridae

Prototheoridae

Prototheoridae or the "African Primitive Ghost Moths" is a family of insects in the lepidopteran order, contained in the superfamily Hepialoidea...

 family. It is found in South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

, where it is only known from the Schoemanspoort in the Cape Province.

The wingspan

Wingspan

The wingspan of an airplane or a bird, is the distance from one wingtip to the other wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777 has a wingspan of about ; and a Wandering Albatross caught in 1965 had a wingspan of , the official record for a living bird.The term wingspan, more technically extent, is...

is about 18 mm. The only known adult was collected in mid March.

Etymology

The species name is derived from the Latin merga (meaning a two-pronged pitchfork) suggested by the pronglike tergal processes of the male genitalia.