Trachypepla aspidephora

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Trachypepla aspidephora
Trachypepla aspidephora 168286872.jpg
Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Oecophoridae
Genus: Trachypepla
Species:
T. aspidephora
Binomial name
Trachypepla aspidephora
Meyrick, 1883 [1]

Trachypepla aspidephora is a species of moth in the family Oecophoridae. [1] It is endemic to New Zealand and has been observed in the North and South Islands. Adults are on the wing from November to March and are attracted to light. The moths can be found resting on tree trunks where their colouration imitates lichens.

Contents

Taxonomy

This species was first described in 1883 by Edward Meyrick and named Trachypepla aspidephora. [2] Later that same year Meyrick gave another abbreviated description of the species. [3] In 1884 Meyrick gave a much fuller description of T. aspidephora. [4] In 1928 George Hudson discussed and illustrated this species. [5] The male lectotype specimen, collected at heir colouration imitated lichens, in the Port Hills of Christchurch, is held at the Natural History Museum, London. [6]

Description

Meyrick described the adults of this species as follows:

Male, female. — 13+1⁄2 - 14+1⁄2 mm. Head and antennae whitish-ochreous. Palpi whitish-ochreous, mixed with dark fuscous, terminal joint with a blackish subapical ring. Thorax whitish-ochreous, anterior margin mixed with dark fuscous. Abdomen pale whitish-ochreous. Legs dark fuscous, a central ring of median tibiae, hairs of posterior tibiae, and apex of all joints ochreous-white. Forewings elongate, costa moderately arched, slightly sinuate in middle, apex rounded, hindmargin very obliquely rounded ; whitish, irregularly suffused with whitish-ochreous ; basal 2⁄5 of costa dark grey, with a small blackish basal spot ; an obscurely indicated slender blackish transverse line in disc before middle, nearly rectangularly angulated, wholly obsolete towards margins, preceded by two tufts of raised pale ochreous scales above and below middle ; a small elongate cloudy dark grey spot along costa somewhat beyond middle, beneath which is a raised ochreous partially blackish-circled spot in disc, and between this and anal angle another raised tuft ; a cloudy blackish-grey elongate outwards-curved spot extending from 3⁄4 of costa to the blackish-circled discal, more or less suffused beneath ; from this near costa proceeds a transverse blackish line to anal angle, obtusely angulated outwards in middle ; a cloudy blackish-grey apical spot, rather produced along hindmargin : cilia ochreous-whitish, with two cloudy blackish lines. Hindwings grey- whitish, apex darker ; cilia whitish, with a cloudy grey line. [4]

Distribution

Port Hills, type locality of species. View of Port Hills from Mt Ada, Canterbury, New Zealand.jpg
Port Hills, type locality of species.

This species is endemic to New Zealand and has been collected in the North and South Islands. [7] T. aspidephora has been observed in Kaeo in Northland, Auckland, Wellington, Nelson, Mount Arthur, Christchurch, Dunedin and Invercargill. [5]

Behaviour

Adults of this species are on the wing from November to March. [8] [9] Hudson noted that the adults were frequently found resting on tree trunks and that their colouration imitated lichens. [5] Adult moths are attracted to light. [10]

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<i>Tingena macarella</i> Species of moth, endemic to New Zealand

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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. 462. ISBN   978-1-877257-93-3. OCLC   973607714. OL   25288394M. Wikidata   Q45922947.
  2. ↑ Edward Meyrick (1883). "Descriptions of New Zealand Microlepidoptera. III. Oecophoridae. [Abstract]". New Zealand Journal of Science. 1: 523. Wikidata   Q111018380.
  3. ↑ Edward Meyrick (1883). "Descriptions of Australian Microlepidoptera. IX. Oecophoridae (continued)". Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales. 8: 370. doi:10.5962/BHL.PART.28660. ISSN   0370-047X. Wikidata   Q112106969.
  4. 1 2 Edward Meyrick (1884). "Descriptions of New Zealand Microlepidoptera. III. Oecophoridae". Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute. 16: 20. ISSN   1176-6158. Wikidata   Q63976486.
  5. 1 2 3 George Vernon Hudson (1928), The butterflies and moths of New Zealand, Illustrator: George Hudson, Wellington, p. 285, OCLC   25449322, Wikidata   Q58593286
  6. ↑ 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: 106. doi:10.7931/J2/FNZ.14. ISSN   0111-5383. Wikidata   Q45083134.
  7. ↑ "Trachypepla aspidephora Meyrick, 1883". www.nzor.org.nz. Retrieved 2022-03-04.
  8. ↑ "Trachypepla aspidephora". www.gbif.org. Retrieved 2022-05-24.
  9. ↑ Alan Emmerson; Robert Hoare (28 October 2019). "Lepidoptera from Redvale, Albany, north of Auckland, New Zealand, 2004-2016: an annotated list". The Wētā. 53: 43–70. ISSN   0111-7696. Wikidata   Q105342215.
  10. ↑ T. H. Davies (January 1973). "LIST OF LEPIDOPTERA COLLECTED IN AREAS SURROUNDING HASTINGS AND NAPIER" (PDF). New Zealand Entomologist. 5 (2): 204–216. doi:10.1080/00779962.1973.9723002. ISSN   0077-9962. Wikidata   Q54755566. Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 February 2013.
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