Orthenches chlorocoma

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Orthenches chlorocoma
Orthenches chlorocoma 114409807.jpg
Scientific classification
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O. chlorocoma
Binomial name
Orthenches chlorocoma
Meyrick, 1885 [1]

Orthenches chlorocoma is a moth of the family Plutellidae first described by Edward Meyrick in 1885. [1] It is endemic to New Zealand and has been observed in the North and South Islands.

Contents

Taxonomy

This species was first described by Edward Meyrick in November 1885 and named Orthenches chlorocoma. [2] [3] In 1886 Meyrick described this species in greater detail. [4] Meyrick used larvae collected in Christchurch from whom he bred one adult specimen in April. [4] George Hudson discussed and illustrated this species in his 1928 book The butterflies and moths of New Zealand. [5] The male holotype is held at the Natural History Museum, London. [3]

Description

Meyrick described the adult of the species as follows:

Male. — 15 mm. Head and antenna? pale whitish-yellowish. Palpi moderate, yellow whitish, second joint with a dark grey subapical band, terminal joint as long as second. Thorax pale whitish-yellowish, sides brownish. Abdomen ochreous-whitish. Legs fuscous, beneath whitish, anterior pair blackish. Fore-wings elongate, narrow, costa slightly sinuate, apex and hind-margin rounded ; fuscous- whitish, towards costa and base slightly yellowish-tinged, with thin irregular blackish irroration through-out, tending to accumulate in small spots, especially on margins ; a small round black spot in disc at 23 : cilia pale whitish-yellowish, suffusedly barred with blackish-grey. Hindwings elongate-ovate, with a scaled membranous ridge along lower median vein beneath ; grey-whitish ; cilia grey-whitish, at apex pale whitish-yellowish, with a blackish-grey spot. [4]

Meyrick then went on to describe the larva and pupa of the species as follows:

Larva 16-legged, slender, attenuated towards both extremities, especially posteriorly ; whitish-brown or whitish-green ; a straight slender dorsal line and two rather irregular ill-defined lines on each side of it ochreous-brown or green, according to ground colour ; beneath these a rather broad yellowish-white spiracular line ; space beneath 'this dull brown; spots minute, black ; head grey-whitish or greenish-whitish, irregularly striped longitudinally with dark fuscous. Pupa in a rather thin firm spindle-shaped cocoon. [4]

Distribution

This species is endemic to New Zealand and has been observed in the North and South Islands. [6]

Habitat and hosts

This species feeds on native broom species in the genus Carmichaelia including Carmichaelia australis. [5] [4]

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References

  1. 1 2 Gordon, Dennis P., ed. (2010). New Zealand inventory of biodiversity: Kingdom animalia : chaetognatha, ecdysozoa, ichnofossils. Vol. 2. p. 463. ISBN   978-1-877257-93-3. OCLC   973607714. OL   25288394M. Wikidata   Q45922947.
  2. Edward Meyrick (November 1885). "Descriptions of New Zealand Microlepidoptera. Gelechiadae. VIII. Tineina (part)". New Zealand Journal of Science. 2 (12): 591. Wikidata   Q108097450.
  3. 1 2 John Stewart Dugdale (23 September 1988). "Lepidoptera - annotated catalogue, and keys to family-group taxa" (PDF). Fauna of New Zealand. Department of Scientific and Industrial Research. 14: 73. doi:10.7931/J2/FNZ.14. ISSN   0111-5383. Wikidata   Q45083134. Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 July 2021.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Edward Meyrick (May 1886). "Descriptions of New Zealand Micro-Lepidoptera". Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute. 18: 175–176. ISSN   1176-6158. Wikidata   Q109405465.
  5. 1 2 George Vernon Hudson (1928), The butterflies and moths of New Zealand, Illustrator: George Hudson, Wellington, pp. 329–330, OCLC   25449322, Wikidata   Q58593286
  6. "Orthenches chlorocoma Meyrick, 1885". www.nzor.org.nz. Retrieved 2022-05-04.