Asterivora urbana

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Asterivora urbana
Asterivora urbana AMNZ21802.jpg
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Choreutidae
Genus: Asterivora
Species:
A. urbana
Binomial name
Asterivora urbana
(Clarke, 1926) [1]
Synonyms [2]
  • Simaethis urbanaClarke, 1926

Asterivora urbana is a species of moth in the family Choreutidae. [1] It is endemic to New Zealand and has been observed in Arthur's Pass. Adults are on the wing in January.

Contents

Taxonomy

This species was first described by Charles E. Clarke in 1926, using specimens taken at Arthur's Pass on the open mountain-side at 4,000 ft. in January. [3] Clarke originally named the species Simaethis chatuidea. [3] In 1928 George Hudson discussed and illustrated this species under that name in his book The butterflies and moths of New Zealand. [4] In 1979 J. S. Dugdale placed this species within the genus Asterivora. [5] In 1988 Dugdale confirmed this placement. [2] The male holotype specimen, as well as other specimens using in the naming of this species, are held at the Auckland War Memorial Museum. [2]

Description

Illustration of A. urbana by George Hudson. Fig 19 MA I437913 TePapa Plate-LII-The-butterflies full (cropped).jpg
Illustration of A. urbana by George Hudson.

Clarke described this species as follows:

♂ ♀. 9 12 mm. Head fuscous with whitish scales. Palpi with whorls of white black-dotted scales with longer tuft beneath. Thorax bronzy-brown dotted with black and with longer scales. Legs dark fuscous irrorated with whitish. Antennae blackish annulated with grey. Abdomen dark fuscous, margins of segments grey. Forewings elongate, costa anteriorly arched, apex moderately obtuse, termen slightly rounded, oblique; dorsum gently oblique, rounded along inner half; bronzy-brown; a grey inwardly-oblique area at rather less than 12, distinct on dorsal side but obscurely reaching costa; a black transverse line at 12, convex outwardly with tendency to form about three dots across wing, outwardly bordered and dotted with metallic silvery markings; a bronzy-brown transverse area at about 34 crossed by grey, more definite towards dorsum; a row of metallic silvery dots at 45 transversely to reach tornus; outwardly and at apex of wing blackish: cilia grey with black basal and median lines with suffusion of dark fuscous at apex and anal angle, tips whitish. Hindwings dark fuscous, lighter on basal half: cilia grey with dark-fuscous basal and fuscous median lines, tips whitish. [3]

Distribution

This species is endemic to New Zealand and has been observed in Arthur's Pass. [1]

Behaviour

Adults of this species is on the wing in January. [4]

Related Research Articles

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<i>Asterivora fasciata</i> Species of moth

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<i>Asterivora tillyardi</i> Species of moth

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<i>Asterivora symbolaea</i> Species of moth

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References

  1. 1 2 3 Gordon, Dennis P., ed. (2010). New Zealand inventory of biodiversity: Kingdom animalia : chaetognatha, ecdysozoa, ichnofossils. Vol. 2. p. 457. ISBN   978-1-877257-93-3. OCLC   973607714. OL   25288394M. Wikidata   Q45922947.
  2. 1 2 3 John Stewart Dugdale (23 September 1988). "Lepidoptera - annotated catalogue, and keys to family-group taxa". Fauna of New Zealand. Department of Scientific and Industrial Research. 14: 114. doi:10.7931/J2/FNZ.14. ISSN   0111-5383. Wikidata   Q45083134.
  3. 1 2 3 Charles Edwin Clarke (12 July 1926). "New species of Lepidoptera". Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute. 56: 420–421. ISSN   1176-6158. Wikidata   Q63101109.
  4. 1 2 George Vernon Hudson (1928), The butterflies and moths of New Zealand, Illustrator: George Hudson, Wellington: Ferguson and Osborn Limited, p. 307, LCCN   88133764, OCLC   25449322, Wikidata   Q58593286
  5. J. S. Dugdale (July 1979). "A new generic name for the New Zealand species previously assigned to Simaethis auctorum (Lepidoptera: Choreutidae), with description of a new species". New Zealand Journal of Zoology. 6 (3): 461–466. doi:10.1080/03014223.1979.10428386. ISSN   0301-4223. Wikidata   Q54576372.