Biologist Honors Wife with New Moth Find

Find a new species and you earn the right to give it a name. Some scientists name their finds for themselves, ensuring their names and work live on in perpetuity. Others honor a favorite celebrity or mentor. But Bruce Walsh, a University of Arizona biologist, knew exactly who he would honor when he found a new moth high in the Chiricahuas range of southern Arizona.

This new moth species, Lithophane leeae, was named for the wife of the biologist who discovered it.
Photo: Bruce Walsh

Walsh found his new species using a light trap. Initially, he thought his find was a previously known silk moth and thought little of it. But upon further examination, he realized it belonged to a different family entirely. The new moth, a Lithophane moth of the noctuid family, has bright pink hindwings, unusual for the generally drab noctuids. DNA testing confirmed the pink moth is a previously unknown species.

Walsh's wife has an affinity for the color pink, and it's not every day you find a new species. So Walsh did the most romantic thing a biologist can do – he named his moth after his wife, Lee. The discovery was officially unveiled as Lithophane leeae in the journal Zoo Keys. Now that's love.

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