Atomotricha chloronota
Female
Male
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Oecophoridae
Genus: Atomotricha
Species:
A. chloronota
Binomial name
Atomotricha chloronota

Atomotricha chloronota is a moth in the family Oecophoridae first described by Edward Meyrick in 1914.[1] It is endemic to New Zealand and is found in the eastern side of the South Island and at the Antipodes Islands. It inhabits clearings with native tussocks and ferns. The larvae feed on leaf litter from silk tunnels in soil. The male adults of this species are on the wing from July to September and have been trapped via sugar traps and are attracted to light. The female of this species is brachypterous.

Taxonomy

This species was first described by Edward Meyrick in 1914 using three specimens collected by Alfred Philpott in Invercargill.[2][3] George Hudson discussed this species in his 1928 book The Butterflies and Moths of New Zealand.[4] He went on to illustrate the male of the species in the 1939 supplement to that publication.[5] The male lectotype specimen, collected in Invercargill, is held at the Natural History Museum, London.[2]

Description

Illustration of a male A. chloronota by G. Hudson.

Meyrick described this species as follows:

♂. 24-25 mm. Head, palpi, and thorax as in versuta. Antennal joints four times as long as their apical width, ciliations 5. Forewings elongate, rather narrow, posteriorly dilated, costa gently arched, hardly sinuate in middle, apex obtuse, termen very obliquely rounded ; whitish-ochreous, in one specimen purplish-fuscous except dorsal area ; a cloudy blackish median longitudinal streak from base almost to apex ; in the darker specimen second discal stigma indicated by a pale-ochreous spot touching median streak and pale dorsal area : cilia whitish-ochreous, in the darker specimen mixed with fuscous and dotted with darker at base. Hindwings pale whitish-ochreous partially tinged with grey, especially on a suffused supramedian streak in disc ; cilia ochreous-whitish.
♀. 17 mm. Forewings broad-lanceolate, acuminate ; purplish-fuscous, with whitish-ochreous dorsal area ; second discal stigma represented by a cloudy ochreous-whitish spot ringed with dark fuscous. Hindwings rudimentary.[3]

The male of this species resembles Atomotricha versuta.[4] The female of this species are brachypterous.[4][6] The species in the Antipodes Islands are smaller and duller in appearance.[6]

Distribution

This species is endemic to New Zealand.[1][7] It is found on the eastern side of the South Island as well as at the Antipodes Islands.[6]

Habitat

Observation of A. chloronota

This species inhabits clearings with tussocks and ferns.[6]

Behaviour

The male adults of this species are nocturnal and have been observed on the wing from July to September.[6][8] This species has been trapped via sugar traps.[4] The adult moths are attracted to light.[9]

Hosts

The larvae of this species form silk tunnels in the soil and then feed on leaf litter.[6][10]

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Atomotricha chloronota.
  1. 1 2 3 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. 1 2 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: 90. doi:10.7931/J2/FNZ.14. ISSN 0111-5383. Wikidata Q45083134.
  3. 1 2 Edward Meyrick (1914). "Descriptions of New Zealand Lepidoptera". Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute. 46: 110. ISSN 1176-6158. Wikidata Q98606535.
  4. 1 2 3 4 George Vernon Hudson (1928), The butterflies and moths of New Zealand, Illustrator: George Hudson, Wellington: Ferguson and Osborn Limited, p. 288, LCCN 88133764, OCLC 25449322, Wikidata Q58593286
  5. ↑ George Vernon Hudson (1939), A supplement to the butterflies and moths of New Zealand, Illustrator: George Hudson, Wellington: Ferguson and Osborn Limited, pp. 451, Plate LIX, OCLC 9742724, Wikidata Q109420935
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Brian Patrick (March 1994). "Antipodes Island Lepidoptera". Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand. 24 (1): 91–116. doi:10.1080/03014223.1994.9517457. ISSN 0303-6758. Wikidata Q54583729.
  7. ↑ "Atomotricha chloronota Meyrick, 1914". www.nzor.org.nz. Retrieved 2022-04-30.
  8. ↑ "Atomotricha chloronota". iNaturalist. Retrieved 2023-04-24.
  9. ↑ Possums End (2020-09-01). "Atomotricha chloronota". iNaturalist. Retrieved 2023-04-24.
  10. ↑ "Atomotricha chloronota Meyrick, 1914". plant-synz.landcareresearch.co.nz. 2011. Retrieved 25 April 2023.
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