Tingena letharga
Male lectotype
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Oecophoridae
Genus: Tingena
Species:
T. letharga
Binomial name
Tingena letharga
(Meyrick, 1883)[1]
Synonyms[2]
  • Oecophora letharga Meyrick, 1883
  • Borkhausenia letharga (Meyrick, 1883)

Tingena letharga is a species of moth in the family Oecophoridae.[2] It is endemic to New Zealand and has been observed in Otago. Adults are on the wing in December and January.

Taxonomy

This species was first described by Edward Meyrick in 1883 using specimens collected in Dunedin in January.[3][4] Meyrick originally named the species Oecophora horaea.[3] Meyrick went on to give a fuller description of the species in 1884.[4] In 1915 Meyrick placed this species within the Borkhausenia genus.[5] In 1926 Alfred Philpott was unable to study the genitalia of the male of this species as it was not represented in collections in New Zealand.[6] George Hudson discussed this species under the name Borkhausenia letharga in his 1928 publication The butterflies and moths of New Zealand.[7] In 1988 J. S. Dugdale placed this species in the genus Tingena.[2] The male lectotype specimen is held at the Natural History Museum, London.[2]

Description

Illustration of T. letharga by George Hudson.

Meyrick first described this species as follows:

Fore wings whitish-grey, irrorated with fuscous, three anterior costal spots, two discal dots, a third on fold before first, and posterior transverse angulated line dark fuscous ; hind wings grey.[3]

Meyrick described this species more fully as follows:

Male. — 16-16+1⁄2 mm. Head, palpi, antennae, and thorax ochreous-whitish, mixed with fuscous-grey. Abdomen ochreous-whitish. Anterior and middle legs fuscous-grey, central ring of tibiae and apex of all joints ochreous-whitish ; posterior legs ochreous-whitish. Forewings moderate, costa moderately arched, apex rounded, hindmargin extremely obliquely rounded ; pale whitish-grey, slightly ochreous-tinged, and irrorated with dark fuscous ; a cloudy fuscous spot on costa at base, another at 1⁄4, and a third in middle ; a small cloudy dark fuscous spot in disc near base ; a dark fuscous dot in disc before middle, a second beyond middle, and a third rather obliquely before first on fold ; a cloudy fuscous outwards-bent transverse line from f of costa to anal angle, indented inwards beneath costa : cilia pale whitish-ochreous, sprinkled with dark fuscous. Hindwings light grey, apex darker ; cilia grey-whitish, with a distinct grey line near base.[4]

Distribution

This species is endemic to New Zealand and has been observed in Otago including at Dunedin and Ida Valley.[1][4][7]

Behaviour

Adults of this species are on the wing in December and January.[4][7]

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Tingena letharga.
  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. 1 2 3 4 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: 102–103. doi:10.7931/J2/FNZ.14. ISSN 0111-5383. Wikidata Q45083134.
  3. 1 2 3 Edward Meyrick (September 1883). "Descriptions of New Zealand Micro-Lepidoptera.—III.—Oecophoridae". New Zealand Journal of Science. 1: 524. Wikidata Q106368126.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Edward Meyrick (1884). "Descriptions of New Zealand Microlepidoptera. III. Oecophoridae". Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute. 16: 35–36. ISSN 1176-6158. Wikidata Q63976486.
  5. ↑ E. Meyrick (12 July 1915). "Revision of New Zealand Tineina". Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute. 47: 212. ISSN 1176-6158. Wikidata Q63123349.
  6. ↑ Alfred Philpott (1926). "List of New Zealand species of Borkhausenia (Oecophoridae: Lepidoptera), including new species". Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute. 56: 399–413. ISSN 1176-6158. Wikidata Q110157185.
  7. 1 2 3 George Vernon Hudson (1928), The butterflies and moths of New Zealand, Illustrator: George Hudson, Wellington: Ferguson and Osborn Limited, p. 271, LCCN 88133764, OCLC 25449322, Wikidata Q58593286
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