Kyhl Austin

University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa | UH Manoa · Department of Plant and Environmental Protection Sciences

Although insects make up the overwhelming majority of the described life on Earth, virtually nothing is known about the conservation status for all but the most charismatic taxa (i.e., butterflies, dragonflies) and many are at risk of imminent extinction. Given that island faunas are particularly vulnerable to extinction, we examined the conservati...

Three species of endemic Hawaiian leaf-roller moths were rediscovered after a 90-year gap in collection records. Twenty-one other species are presumed extinct, with no collection records from the past 50 years. Remarks concerning the type localities of four species (Cydia chlorostola, C. gypsograpta, C. parapteryx, and Pararrhaptica leucostichas) d...

We discovered an unknown insect mining the leaves of Clermontia fauriei (Campanulaceae) in the Alakai Swamp, Kauai. Although the leaf mines superficially resembled those of the Hawaiian endemic genus Philodoria (Gracil-lariidae), or possibly Euperissus (Cosmopterigidae), rearing revealed an unde-scribed species of Carposina (Carposinidae). We descr...

The Archipini fauna of the Caribbean is revised to include 33 species. Most previously described species occurring in the region are redescribed and figured, with 13 new species: Argyrotaenia browni sp. nov., A. cryptica sp. nov. (including A. c. cryptica ssp. nov. and A. c. praeteritana ssp. nov.), A. paradisei sp. nov., A. razowskiana sp. nov., C...

We discuss seven species of tortricid moths that are leafminers at least in early instars. These include Grapholita thermopsidis Eiseman & Austin, new species, which feeds on Thermopsis rhombifolia (Pursh) Richardson (Fabaceae), along with two others for which larval hosts were previously unknown: Catastega triangulana Brown (Ericaceae: Arctostaphy...

Five Neotropical tortricine species which currently lack meaningful generic assignment (i.e., “Archipini unplaced”) are assigned to genera. The following new combinations and synonymies are proposed: Argyrotaenia telemacana Razowski and Becker, 2010, new synonymy, as a junior synonym of Argyrotaenia tristriata (Meyrick, 1931); Teras jamaicana Walke...

Three new species, E. laosensis nov.sp. and E. collardi nov.sp. from northern Laos, and E. daenlao nov.sp. from Thailand are shown to be distinct from previously described species from the region – E. salvazi Tindale, 1958 and E. topeza Tindale, 1958 also from northeastern Laos, and E. coomani Viette, 1949 from northern Vietnam. The genitalia of th...

Recent surveys in The Bahamas recorded four species of Archipini. Of these, Argyrotaenia flavoreticulana Austin & Dombroskie, sp. n. is described and illustrated, while A. amatana (Dyar), A. kimballi Obraztsov, and Clepsis peritana (Clemens) are reported from The Bahamas for the first time. Because of the difficulty of identifying the latter three...

Lepidotarphius perornatella (Walker, 1864) (Lepidoptera: Glyphipterigidae) is recorded for the first time from North America.