Orocrambus machaeristes

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Orocrambus machaeristes
Orocrambus machaeristes male.jpg
Male
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Crambidae
Subfamily: Crambinae
Tribe: Crambini
Genus: Orocrambus
Species:
O. machaeristes
Binomial name
Orocrambus machaeristes
Meyrick, 1905 [1]

Orocrambus machaeristes is a moth in the family Crambidae. [1] It was first described by Edward Meyrick. It is endemic to New Zealand, where it has been recorded from north-western Nelson, south along the Southern Alps to Lake Wakatipu. This species prefers alpine habitat and inhabits areas populated with snowgrass and tussock species. The range of this moth coincides with the range of the tussock species Chionochloa pallens. Adults are day flying and have been observed on the wing from December until February.

Contents

Taxonomy

O. machaeristes was described by Edward Meyrick in 1905 using two specimens collected at Mount Earnslaw at 5300 ft. [2] [3] George Hudson discussed and illustrated this species in his 1928 publication The butterflies and moths of New Zealand. [4] D. E. Gaskin revised this species in 1975. [5] The lectotype specimen, collected by George Hudson at Mount Earnslaw, is held at the Natural History Museum, London. [3]

Description

Living O. machaeristes Orocrambus machaeristes 454113373.jpg
Living O. machaeristes
Chionochloa pallens Chionochloa pallens pallens 110268840.jpg
Chionochloa pallens

Meyrick described the adults of this species as follows:

♂♀. 21-24 mm. Head and thorax dark brown mixed with blackish, centre of crown and of thorax anteriorly and in ♀ face whitish. Palpi blackish-fuscous, whitish internally. Antennae dark fuscous. Abdomen dark fuscous, somewhat whitish-sprinkled. Forewings elongate, moderately dilated, costa hardly arched, apex obtuse, termen rather oblique, straight, rounded beneath ; brown, more or less mixed with dark grey and grey-whitish (more strongly in ♀) ; an ochreous-white median longitudinal streak from base to 3⁄5, dilated and obliquely truncate posteriorly, edged beneath by a thick blackish streak which curves up round posterior extremity, where it is interrupted by interneural lines of ground colour, and continued as a series of diminishing spots to near costa; a black subdorsal streak from base to 1⁄3; a curved series of blackish marks on veins from 4⁄5 of costa to tornus: cilia grey, with darker basal shade, tips ochreous-whitish. Hind-wings dark grey, becoming blackish-grey towards termen ; cilia as in fore-wings. [2]

The wingspan of the adult moth ranges between 19 to 25 mm. [5] Hudson pointed out that this species is varies considerably in the extent of the whitish speckling on the fore-wings near the termen, but is easily recognised by the narrow wedge-shaped white central marking. [4]

Distribution

O. machaeristes is endemic to New Zealand. [6] It has been recorded from north-west Nelson south along the Southern Alps to Lake Wakatipu. [5]

Habitat and hosts

This species prefers alpine habitat. [5] It inhabits snowgrass and tussock on high mountainsides. [4] It's range coincides with the range of the tussock species Chionochloa pallens . [5]

Behaviour

Adult moths are most commonly on the wing from December until February. [4] It is a day flying moth and is particularly active in hot sunshine. [4]

References

  1. 1 2 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 Edward Meyrick (15 July 1905). "XII. Notes on New Zealand Lepidoptera". Transactions of the Royal Entomological Society of London. 53 (2): 224–225. doi:10.1111/J.1365-2311.1905.TB02451.X. ISSN   0035-8894. Wikidata   Q54553180 – via Biodiversity Heritage Library.PD-icon.svg This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .
  3. 1 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: 148. doi:10.7931/J2/FNZ.14. ISSN   0111-5383. Wikidata   Q45083134.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Hudson, G. V. (1928), The butterflies and moths of New Zealand, Illustrator: George Hudson, Wellington: Ferguson and Osborn Limited, p. 160, LCCN   88133764, OCLC   25449322, Wikidata   Q58593286 – via Biodiversity Heritage LibraryPD-icon.svg This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 Gaskin, D. E. (1975). "Revision of the New Zealand Crambini (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae: Crambinae)". New Zealand Journal of Zoology. 2 (3): 265–363. doi:10.1080/03014223.1975.9517878.
  6. ↑ "Orocrambus machaeristes Meyrick, 1905". www.nzor.org.nz. Landcare Research New Zealand Ltd. Retrieved 21 January 2018.
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