Atomotricha ommatias
Illustration of male
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Oecophoridae
Genus: Atomotricha
Species:
A. ommatias
Binomial name
Atomotricha ommatias
Meyrick, 1883

Atomotricha ommatias is a moth in the family Oecophoridae first described by Edward Meyrick in 1883.[1] It is endemic to New Zealand and has been observed in the South Island. This species inhabits shrubland. The adults are out in the spring months of August and September and are attracted to sugar traps. The female of the species os brachypterous and is incapable of flight. Both the male and female of the species have been observed resting on fences during cold nights. The female, if touched, will hop two or three inches.

Taxonomy

This species was first described by Edward Meyrick in 1883 using specimens collected in Christchurch.[2][3][4] George Hudson discussed this species in his 1928 book The Butterflies and Moths of New Zealand.[5] Hudson went on to illustrated the male of the species in his supplement to that book.[6] The male lectotype specimen, collected in Christchurch, is held at the Natural History Museum, London.[7]

Description

Meyrick described this species as follows:

Fore wings fuscous, clouded with darker, three arched discal marks, and a posterior transverse line obscurely darker ; hind-wings whitish-grey.[2]

Meyrick, in a later 1883 publication, went on to state:

♂ broader - winged than versuta, ground-colour always fuscous, stigmata not ochreous. ♀ with forewings not acuminate, hindwings partially developed, ovate-lanceolate.[3]

Meyrick gave a fuller description of the species in 1884:

Male. — 21-24 mm.; female. — 13-18 mm. Head, palpi, and thorax pale fuscous, more or less suffused with dark fuscous. Antennae pale fuscous, slenderly annulated with dark fuscous. Abdomen ochreous-whitish. Legs ochreous-whitish, tarsal joints suffused with dark fuscous towards base. Forewings elongate, somewhat dilated posteriorly, costa moderately arched, apex round-pointed, hindmargin very obliquely rounded ; light fuscous, irregularly or wholly suffused with dark fuscous ; a large tuft of raised scales almost at base, and two or three much smaller in disc ; an obscurely indicated pale dot in disc before 1⁄3, partially surrounded by a dark ring, and a similar one on fold obliquely beyond it ; a dark fuscous crescentic spot in disc slightly beyond middle, extremities directed downwards, anteriorly and posteriorly distinctly margined with paler ; a slender dark fuscous transverse line from 2⁄3 of costa obliquely outwards, twice angulated above middle, thence running to 2⁄3 of inner margin, often obsolete : cilia pale fuscous, mixed with dark fuscous, with a row of cloudy dark fuscous spots. Hind- wings whitish-grey or grey, with a darker grey discal spot ; cilia grey-whitish, with one or two cloudy dark grey lines.[4]

The female of the species is brachypterous and is incapable of flight.[4] Hudson regarded this species as closely allied to A. versuta.[5]

Distribution

This species is endemic to New Zealand.[8] This species has been observed in the South Island, at Canterbury, including at Riccarton Bush and Cass.[9][10] It has also been observed at the West Plains in Southland.[11]

Habitat

This species inhabits shrubland.[12]

Behaviour

The adults of this species are on the wing in the New Zealand spring months of August and September and are attracted to sugar traps.[11] It can be observed resting on fences during cold nights. If touched the female of the species will hop two or three inches.[13]

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Atomotricha ommatias.
  1. ↑ 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 Edward Meyrick (September 1883). "Descriptions of New Zealand Micro-Lepidoptera.—III.—Oecophoridae". New Zealand Journal of Science. 1: 522. Wikidata Q106368126.
  3. 1 2 E. Meyrick (1883). "Descriptions of Australian Micro-Lepidoptera". Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales. 8: 325. doi:10.5962/BHL.PART.28660. ISSN 0370-047X. Wikidata Q56015261.
  4. 1 2 3 Edward Meyrick (1884). "Descriptions of New Zealand Microlepidoptera. III. Oecophoridae". Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute. 16: 10. ISSN 1176-6158. Wikidata Q63976486.
  5. 1 2 George Vernon Hudson (1928), The butterflies and moths of New Zealand, Illustrator: George Hudson, Wellington: Ferguson and Osborn Limited, pp. 287–288, LCCN 88133764, OCLC 25449322, Wikidata Q58593286
  6. ↑ 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 XLI, OCLC 9742724, Wikidata Q109420935
  7. ↑ 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.
  8. ↑ "Atomotricha ommatias Meyrick, 1883". www.nzor.org.nz. Retrieved 2022-05-01.
  9. ↑ Stuart Lindsay (1927). "A List of the Lepidoptera of Deans's Bush, Riccarton, Canterbury". Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute. 57: 693–695. ISSN 1176-6158. Wikidata Q111969574.
  10. ↑ Graeme White (1991). "The Changing Abundance of Moths in a Tussock Grassland, 1962- 1989, and 50-Year to 70-Year Trends" (PDF). New Zealand Journal of Ecology. 15 (1): 5–22. ISSN 0110-6465. JSTOR 24054454. Wikidata Q107569572.
  11. 1 2 Alfred Philpott (1901). "A Catalogue of the Lepidoptera of Southland". Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute. 33: 182. ISSN 1176-6158. Wikidata Q107797165.
  12. ↑ Brian Patrick (January 1994). "Lepidoptera of Kaitorete Spit, Canterbury". New Zealand Entomologist. 17 (1): 52–63. doi:10.1080/00779962.1994.9721985. ISSN 0077-9962. Wikidata Q57483708.
  13. ↑ George Vernon Hudson (1913). "Notes on Flightless Females in certain Species of Moths, with an Attempted Explanation". Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute. 45: 52–57. ISSN 1176-6158. Wikidata Q123589978.
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