Notoreas chrysopeda

Notoreas chrysopeda is a species of moth in the family Geometridae. This species is endemic to New Zealand. It is a colourful day flying moth that lives in mountainous habitat.

Notoreas chrysopeda
Female
Male
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Geometridae
Genus: Notoreas
Species:
N. chrysopeda
Binomial name
Notoreas chrysopeda
(Meyrick, 1888)[1]
Synonyms[1]
  • Arctesthes chrysopeda Meyrick, 1888 (As Arcteuthes chrysopeda)
  • Lythria chrysopeda (Meyrick, 1888)

Taxonomy

This species was described by Edward Meyrick in 1888 using material collected at Mount Arthur at an altitude of approximately 1200m in January and named Arcteuthes chrysopeda.[2] Meyrick misspelt the genus, the correct spelling of which is Arctesthes.[1] George Hudson discussed and illustrated this species under the name Lythria chrysopeda in both his 1898 book New Zealand moths and butterflies (Macro-lepidoptera) and his 1928 publication The Butterflies and Moths of New Zealand.[3][4][1] Robin C. Craw placed this species within the genus Notoreas in 1986.[5] The lectotype specimen is held at the Natural History Museum, London.[1]

Description

Meyrick described the species as follows:

Male, female.—16–20 mm. Head, palpi, antennae, thorax, abdomen, and legs black, irrorated with ochreous-yellowish or ochreous-whitish. Antennal pectinations of male: a, 2,; b, 3. Forewings with hindmargin rather obliquely rounded; 6 out of 9, 7 from above or below angle of areole, 11 from or below angle of areole; dark fuscous, or dark ochreous-brown; base some-what irrorated with orange; four orange fasciae, tolerably equidistant; first linear, slightly curved; second narrow, almost straight; third rather narrow, forming a short obtuse angle inwards below middle; fourth subterminal, linear, sometimes interrupted or nearly obsolete, irregularly subdentate; some-times a discal spot partially indicated by fine orange margins: cilia brown, with obscure darker fuscous quadrate spots on basal half, alternating with obscure whitish spots on terminal half. Hindwings with colour, markings, and cilia as in forewings, but first fascia absent; second unevenly angulated in middle; third broader, sometimes preceded by a fine additional orange line; fourth broader in middle. Under-surface similar to upper, but orange markings broader and lighter; cilia barred throughout with white.[2]

Distribution

This species is endemic to New Zealand.[6][7] It is found in the Mount Arthur tableland.[4]

Biology and behaviour

This species is on the wing in January and February.[3] It is a day flying moth, most active in bright sunshine.[3]

Habitat and host species

N. chrysopeda prefers open tussock clearings in mountainous forest habitat.[3] Larvae of New Zealand moths within the genus Notoreas feed exclusively on plants within the genera Pimelea and Kelleria.[8]

References
  1. Dugdale, J. S. (1988). "Lepidoptera - annotated catalogue, and keys to family-group taxa" (PDF). Fauna of New Zealand. 14: 1–269. ISBN 978-0477025188. Retrieved 22 June 2018.
  2. Meyrick, Edward (1888). "Notes on New Zealand Geometrina". Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute. 20: 47–62 – via Biodiversity Heritage Library.
  3. Hudson, G. V. (1898). New Zealand moths and butterflies (Macro-lepidoptera). London. p. 68. doi:10.5962/bhl.title.7912. OCLC 727236768. Retrieved 22 June 2018.
  4. Hudson, G. V. (1928). The Butterflies and Moths of New Zealand. Wellington: Ferguson & Osborn Ltd. p. 132. OCLC 25449322.
  5. Craw, R.C. (5 January 2012). "Review of the genus Notoreas (sensu auctorum) (Lepidoptera: Geometridae: Larentiinae)". New Zealand Journal of Zoology. 13 (1): 131–140. doi:10.1080/03014223.1986.10422654.
  6. "Notoreas chrysopeda (Meyrick, 1888)". www.nzor.org.nz. Landcare Research New Zealand Ltd. Retrieved 2018-06-22.
  7. Gordon, Dennis P., ed. (2010). New Zealand Inventory of Biodiversity, Volume Two, Kingdom Animalia: Chaetognatha, Ecdysozoa, Ichnofossils. Vol. 2. Christchurch, N.Z.: Canterbury University Press. p. 460. ISBN 9781877257933. OCLC 973607714.
  8. Patrick, BH; Hoare, RJB; Rhode, BE (December 2010). "Taxonomy and conservation of allopatric moth populations: a revisionary study of the Notoreas perornata Walker complex (Lepidoptera: Geometridae: Larentiinae), with special reference to southern New Zealand". New Zealand Journal of Zoology. 37 (4): 257–283. doi:10.1080/03014223.2010.511127.
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