New alpine moth species discovery helps solve 180-year-old identification mystery

Researchers name new species after first identifying insect nearly 30 years ago

Conrad Duncan
Monday 19 July 2021 18:48 BST
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Scientists who discovered a new species of alpine moth have used their findings to crack a 180-year-old mystery around the identification of another species of the insect.

Two researchers from Switzerland and Austria, Jürg Schmid and Peter Huemer, made the discovery after first identifying the same moth species almost 30 years ago in the 1990s.

The two men found that while the insect bore similarities to a species commonly named Dichrorampha montanana, which has been known to scientists since 1843, it had clear differences which suggested a new species.

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