E13: New Species— of high mountain jaguar moths and caterpillars that glow (fluoresce, actually)

National Geographic Explorer Joe Martinez is a Ph.D. student in the McGuire Center for Lepidoptera and Biodiversity in the Florida Museum of Natural History at the University of Florida.

He talks to us about his paper published in ZooKeys in which he describes six new species of jaguar moths! We talk about why these are called “jaguar” moths, why do they fluoresce (they glow!) in UV light, and what these moths are doing at high altitudes!

The title of the paper is “A new Andean genus, Lafontaineana, with descriptions of four new species and two new Neotropical species of Panthea (Noctuidae, Pantheinae).” The paper is in the April 6 issue of ZooKeys: https://zookeys.pensoft.net/article/56784/

learn more about Joe Martinez, follow him on Twitter, @Jose_IMartinez, on Instagram @owletmothman, or Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ismaelmartinez.papilioslayer/