Thyrocopa

Thyrocopa is a genus of oecophorid moth endemic to Hawaii. The taxon has approximately forty species, including some flightless species.

Adults

Although some Agrotis species occur at very high altitudes in Hawaii and female Agrotis from New Zealand are sometimes brachypterous, brachyptery in both sexes of Lepidoptera species is rare and is usually limited to wind-battered habitats, often southern oceanic islands and sparsely vegetated areas where the moths locomote by jumping. Thyrocopa includes the only species of flightless alpine moth in the Hawaiian Islands.

Having studied males and females of two different species (Thyrocopa apatela and Thyrocopa kikaelekea), researchers at University of California, Berkeley concluded that they had not evolved from a flightless common ancestor nor had they dispersed to new habitats after becoming flightless. Rather, each was descended from a flying ancestor but had separately undergone wing reduction and evolved flightlessness in a case of parallel evolution occurring in less than 1 million years. The adaptation is thought to be a response to specific environmental pressures such as scattered food resources, lack of predation, high winds, and low temperatures that elicit loss of flight. Their hypothesis is supported by both molecular and morphological evidence.