Bityla defigurata
Female
Male
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Superfamily: Noctuoidea
Family: Noctuidae
Genus: Bityla
Species:
B. defigurata
Binomial name
Bityla defigurata
(Walker, 1865)[1]
Synonyms[2]
  • Xylina defigurata Walker, 1865
  • Bityla thoracica Walker, 1865

Bityla defigurata is a moth of the family Noctuidae.[1] It is endemic to New Zealand.

Taxonomy

This species was first described by Francis Walker in 1865 using specimens collected by T. R. Oxley in Nelson and originally named Xylina defigurata.[3] Edward Meyrick placed this species in the genus Bityla and synonymised Bityla thoracica with this species.[4] The female holotype is held at the Natural History Museum, London.[2]

Description

Walker described this species as follows:

Female. Cinereous-brown. Head and fore tegulae of the thorax dark brown. Palpi dull ochraceous, fringed beneath, obliquely ascending, rising a little higher than the vertex ; second joint mostly black on the outer side ; third elongate-conical, about one-third of the length of the second. Abdomen brownish-cinereous, extending rather beyond, the hind wings; apical tuft ochraceous. Wings shining, tinged with aeneous. Fore wings with some indistinct brown lines composed of lunules ; orbicular and reniform marks indistinctly brown-bordered. Hind wings a little more cinereous than the fore wings. Length of the body 10 lines ; of the wings 22 lines.[3]

Distribution

It is endemic to New Zealand and found in both the North and South Islands.[1][5]

Behaviour

The adults of this species are on the wing from January to March and is attracted to light.[5]

Host species

The larvae of this species have been reared on Muehlenbeckia australis and Muehlenbeckia complexa.[6]

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Bityla defigurata.
  1. 1 2 3 "Bityla defigurata (Walker, 1865)". www.nzor.org.nz. Landcare Research New Zealand Ltd. Retrieved 9 July 2017.
  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: 195. doi:10.7931/J2/FNZ.14. ISSN 0111-5383. Wikidata Q45083134.
  3. 1 2 Francis Walker (1865), List of the specimens of lepidopterous insects in the collection of the British Museum. Part XXXIII. - supplement, part 3., London, pp. 707–1120, Wikidata Q113265208{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  4. ↑ Edward Meyrick (1887). "Monograph of New Zealand Noctuina". Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute. 19: 31. ISSN 1176-6158. Wikidata Q104048034.
  5. 1 2 George Vernon Hudson (1898), New Zealand moths and butterflies (Macro-lepidoptera), Illustrator: George Hudson, London, p. 29, doi:10.5962/BHL.TITLE.7912, OCLC 980865393, Wikidata Q19073637{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  6. ↑ "PlantSynz - Invertebrate herbivore biodiversity assessment tool: Database". plant-synz.landcareresearch.co.nz. Retrieved 15 July 2018.


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