Aleptina arenaria (White Sands Owlet Moth) | Natural Heritage New Mexico

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Arthropoda

Class: Insecta

Order: Lepidoptera

Family: Noctuidae

Genus: Aleptina

Species: arenaria

White Sands Owlet Moth - Aleptina arenaria

1381920

Species Extent (New Mexico)

Global Rank: GNR

State Rank: S1

Rank Metadata
State Rank: S1	Rank Changed: 02/25/2025
Rank Reviewed: N/A
Reason: <em>Aleptina arenaria </em>is a Noctuid moth endemic to the Tularosa Basin in southern New Mexico. It has been recorded very few times, though survey effort in the region has been minimal. The main threats of drought and groundwater drawdown is increasing sand motility at the Park. This habitat instability is pervasive across the range of the species. While the timing and severity of this threat is not well understood, the species is known from very few localities within a small range. They may all be impacted by a severe drought year (therefore one location), or each locality may be impacted separately as dunes shift and habitat is lost (therefore three locations). Continuing decline is also inferred for this species, due to the threats of habitat instability and increased incidence of drought due to climate change. As a result, this species is currently assessed as S1 in New Mexico.

Ecological Factors
Specificity: Narrow. Specialist or community with key requirements common.	Range Extent: <100 square km (less than about 40 square miles)
Occurences: 6 - 20	Population Size: Unknown
Area of Occupancy: N/A	Threat Summary: N/A

State Status:

Federal Status:

USFS Status:

BLM Status:

SWAP Status: SGCN

NMRP Strategy Status:

Number of Subpopulations: 3

Number of Mapped Locations: 18

Number of Observations: 11

Observation date range: 01-01-2008 to 01-01-2017

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