Urania sloanus, or Sloane's urania, was a species of moth of the family Uraniidae endemic to Jamaica. It was last reported in 1894 or 1895, but possibly survived until at least 1908. The species was first described by Pieter Cramer in 1779.
The specific epithet sloanus honours Sir Hans Sloane (1660–1753), an English collector whose collection became the foundation of the British Museum.
Based on current knowledge of extant uraniine species, it is likely that Sloane's urania migrated between patches of host plants, after population explosions locally defoliated them. This probably required relatively large, intact areas of lowland forest.
Habitat loss when Jamaica's lowland rainforests were cleared and converted to agricultural land during the colonial era may have contributed to its extinction, although large parts of primary forest still remain. This specific species of moths experienced a decline in their population because of a drastic change in environmental components. Like other members of the genus Urania, periodic swarms of moths were separated by years of great scarcity. The U. sloanus species faced significant threats that imposed less than sustainable environments for the species survival. U. sloanus species experienced the loss of their main larval host through habitat destruction this was directly linked to abrupt agricultural changes, hurricanes, and other natural disasters (Nazari, 2016). As the question of why did this species become extinct is further examined, we can conclude that the species was forced into unsustainable and unadaptable conditions that would inevitably lead to a loss in the overall population and survival rates of the species.
