Tirsa [SEP] parent taxon
Tirsa
Tirsa is a genus of moths of the Crambidae family, containing only one species Tirsa fiona. It is found in French Polynesia (Rapa Iti).
The wingspan is 24–28 mm. It is a dark brown moth with dark camouflaging speckles throughout its body. It is also known for its long, narrow antennae, which often extend back over its head, rather than ahead.
References.
- Natural History Museum Lepidoptera genus database
Taxon in disguise
In bacteriology, a taxon in disguise is a species, genus or higher unit of biological classification whose evolutionary history reveals has evolved from another unit of similar or lower rank, making the parent unit paraphyletic. This happens when rapid evolution makes a new species appear radically different from the ancestral group, so that it is not (initially) recognised as belonging to the parent phylogenetic group, leaving the latter an evolutionary grade.
While the term is from bacteriology, parallel examples are found throughout the tree of