Eudonia oreas

Eudonia oreas
Male holotype
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Crambidae
Genus:	Eudonia
Species:	E. oreas
Binomial name
Eudonia oreas (Meyrick, 1884) [1]
Synonyms [2]
Scoparia oreasMeyrick, 1884

Eudonia oreas is a moth in the family Crambidae. ^[3] This species was named by Edward Meyrick in 1884. It is endemic to New Zealand and is only found in the Otago region of the South Island. It inhabits the high alpine zone throughout Otago and can also be found in low lying areas around Dunedin. The adults and larvae have been found on rock faces. Adults are recorded as being on the wing in December.

Taxonomy

This species was named by Edward Meyrick in 1884 using a specimen collected at Ben Lomond near Lake Wakatipu at an altitude of 5000 ft and originally named Scoparia oreas. ^{[4] [2]} Meyrick went on to give a full description of the species in 1885. ^[5] George Hudson discussed this species in his 1928 publication The butterflies and moths of New Zealand. ^[6] In 1988 John S. Dugdale placed this species in the genus Eudonia . ^[2] The holotype specimen is held at the Natural History Museum, London. ^[2]

Description

Meyrick described this species as follows:

Male.—22 mm. Head and thorax whitish, strongly mixed with dark fuscous. Palpi 3+1⁄4, dark fuscous, apex and basal joint white. Antennae pubescent, dark grey, ciliations 1. Abdomen whitish-grey, segmental margins whitish. Legs white, tibiae and tarsi banded with blackish. Forewings very elongate, tolerably triangular, costa slightly arched, apex rounded, hindmargin obliquely rounded; white, somewhat mixed with pale grey, and rather thinly irrorated with dark fuscous; some obscure dark fuscous spots near base ; first line white, very indistinct, somewhat curved, tolerably indented, posteriorly obscurely margined with dark fuscous ; orbicular moderate, roundish, dark fuscous, detached ; claviform moderate, broadly linear, dark fuscous, touching first line; reniform 8-shaped, whitish, margined with dark fuscous, upper and lower margins incomplete ; second line white, indistinct, dilated to form spots on costa and inner margin, obscurely margined with dark fuscous ; subterminal broad, white, ill-defined, narrowly interrupted above middle, apex of lower portion almost coalescing with second line; hindmargin dark fuscous, with a row of white dots : cilia. white, with a sharply-defined dark fuscous line. Hindwings 1+1⁄3, grey-whitish, apex hardly darker ; cilia whitish. ^[5]

This species is similar in appearance to Eudonia philerga but can be distinguished as E. oreas has longer and narrower forewings, whiteish hindwings, as well as the longer ciliations on the antennae. ^[5]

Distribution

This species is endemic to New Zealand. ^{[3] [1]} It is only found in Otago in the South Island. ^[7]

Habitat

Type locality, Ben Lomond.

This moth is lives in the high alpine zone throughout Otago and also in low lying areas around Dunedin. ^{[7] [8]} Both the adults and larvae of this species inhabit rock faces. ^[7]

Behaviour

Adults have been recorded on wing in December. ^[5]

References

1. "Eudonia oreas (Meyrick, 1884)". www.nzor.org.nz. Landcare Research New Zealand Ltd. Retrieved 26 January 2018.
2. Dugdale , J. S. (23 September 1988). "Lepidoptera - annotated catalogue, and keys to family-group taxa". Fauna of New Zealand. 14. Department of Scientific and Industrial Research: 157. doi:10.7931/J2/FNZ.14. ISSN   0111-5383. Wikidata   Q45083134.
3. Gordon, Dennis P., ed. (2010). New Zealand inventory of biodiversity: Kingdom animalia: chaetognatha, ecdysozoa, ichnofossils. Vol. 2. p. 458. ISBN   978-1-877257-93-3. OCLC   973607714. OL   25288394M. Wikidata   Q45922947.
4. Meyrick, Edward (1884). "Descriptions of New Zealand Micro-Lepidoptera". New Zealand Journal of Science. 2: 235–237. Retrieved 26 January 2018– via Biodiversity Heritage Library.
5. Edward Meyrick (May 1885). "Art. XII. — Descriptions of New Zealand Micro-Lepidoptera". Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute. 17: 81. ISSN   1176-6158. Wikidata   Q110063611. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .
6. Hudson, G. V. (1928), The butterflies and moths of New Zealand, Illustrator: George Hudson, Wellington: Ferguson and Osborn Limited, p. 208, LCCN   88133764, OCLC   25449322, Wikidata   Q58593286
7. Crown Pastoral Land Tenure Review Coronet Peak Conservation Resources Report - Part 1 (PDF) (Report). Land Information New Zealand. 2006. p. 31, 38. Retrieved 3 March 2025.
8. B. I. P. Barratt; B. H. Patrick (January 1987). "Insects of snow tussock grassland on the East Otago Plateau". New Zealand Entomologist. 10 (1): 94. doi:10.1080/00779962.1987.9722513. ISSN   0077-9962. Wikidata   Q54576207.