When Zimmerman moved that taxon to his reclassified "Chedra microstigma", he further remarked that besides the two "Chedra" species he had just classified as such, the genus "Chedra" was at that point only known from the New World, which meant the presence of the genus on Hawaii could be considered a biogeographic oddity. At present, however, a new species has been discovered in the Philippines, "C. fimbristyli", which is certainly native to those islands. Zimmerman further theorised that the mode of invasion may have been the U.S. Army, which posted a large number of horses and mules on Oahu after the USA usurped the native government in 1893, and imported a large amount of hay and silage from the West Coast of North America as provender for this stock, in which stalks the caterpillars may have hitched a ride. Note, however, that this was only around a decade before Lord Walsingham collected his type series in the island interior.