Nyctemera amicus
species of insect
Nyctemera amicus, the senecio moth, magpie moth or cineraria moth, is a moth of the family Erebidae. The species was first described by Adam White in 1841. It is found in South-east Asia, Oceania, and most of Australia. It can also be found in New Zealand.
The larvae feed on Senecio species including S. linearifolius, S. quadridentatus, S. mikanioides, S. cruentus, and S. scandens. These food plants contain pyrrolizidine alkaloids, making the larvae unpleasant to taste and poisonous to birds.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Nyctemera amicus” is species of insect. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Nyctemera, amicus and species, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “species of insect” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Datasets, specimens, observations and peer-reviewed methods provide the appropriate test for the technical claims summarized here. The source revision retrieved here is dated Mar 24, 2024. The linked authority identifier is Q1367013. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1841.
A general summary may omit uncertainty, sample limits or methodological disagreement that is explicit in the technical record. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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This entry incorporates text from “Nyctemera amicus” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.