Trachypepla amphileuca
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Oecophoridae
Genus: Trachypepla
Species:
T. amphileuca
Binomial name
Trachypepla amphileuca

Trachypepla amphileuca is a species of moth in the family Oecophoridae.[2] It is endemic to New Zealand and has been observed in the North Island. This species inhabits native forest. Adults are on the wing from October to January and are attracted to light. The wing pattern of T. amphileuca is said to imitate the appearance of bird droppings.

Taxonomy

This species was first described in 1914 by Edward Meyrick and named Trachypepla amphileuca using a specimen collected in Wainuiomata by George Hudson in December.[3][1] In 1928 George Hudson discussed and illustrated this species in his book The butterflies and moths of New Zealand.[4] The male holotype specimen is held at the Natural History Museum, London.[1]

Description

Illustration by G. Hudson.

Meyrick described the adult male of the species as follows:

♂. 16 mm. Head fuscous. Palpi dark fuscous sprinkled with whitish. Antennal ciliations 1. Thorax white, anterior margin narrowly dark fuscous. Abdomen light grey, anal tuft whitish-ochreous. Fore wings elongate, rather narrow, costa moderately arched, apex obtuse, termen very obliquely rounded ; white, with a very faint ochreous tinge ; a dark-fuscous wedge-shaped spot along basal sixth of costa ; a broad direct transverse dark-grey band occupying median third, anterior edge slightly concave, posterior slightly convex and somewhat excavated above middle ; within this band are two tufts almost on anterior edge representing first discal and plical stigmata, and a crescentic transverse white dark-edged mark towards posterior edge ; a suffused grey patch towards lower part of termen, touching tornus ; a small black apical spot, preceded by a large black dot on costa and three on termen : cilia grey, round apex with base white. Hindwings grey ; cilia pale grey, darker towards base.[3]

Hudson was of the opinion that the wing pattern of T. amphileuca imitates the appearance of bird droppings.[4]

Distribution

Habitat near Wainuiomata, type locality of this species.

This species is endemic to New Zealand and has been observed in the North Island.[5][6] It has been observed or collected in the Wellington, Hawkes Bay, Waikato and Auckland regions.[7] It has previously been regarded as scarce in the Hawkes Bay although in more recently published literature this species is said to be common in Albany, Auckland.[8][9]

Habitat

T. amphileuca inhabits native forest.[4]

Behaviour

Adults have been observed on the wing from October to January.[7] Adults are attracted to light and have been collected using light traps.[8]

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Trachypepla amphileuca.
  1. 1 2 3 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: 106. doi:10.7931/J2/FNZ.14. ISSN 0111-5383. Wikidata Q45083134.
  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.
  3. 1 2 Edward Meyrick (1914). "Descriptions of New Zealand Lepidoptera". Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute. 46: 107–108. ISSN 1176-6158. Wikidata Q98606535.
  4. 1 2 3 George Vernon Hudson (1928), The butterflies and moths of New Zealand, Illustrator: George Hudson, Wellington: Ferguson and Osborn Limited, p. 284, LCCN 88133764, OCLC 25449322, Wikidata Q58593286
  5. ↑ "Trachypepla amphileuca Meyrick, 1914". www.nzor.org.nz. Retrieved 2022-03-04.
  6. ↑ "Trachypepla amphileuca Meyrick, 1914". www.gbif.org. Retrieved 2022-05-21.
  7. 1 2 "Trachypepla amphileuca". iNaturalist. Retrieved 2022-05-21.
  8. 1 2 T. H. Davies (January 1973). "LIST OF LEPIDOPTERA COLLECTED IN AREAS SURROUNDING HASTINGS AND NAPIER" (PDF). New Zealand Entomologist. 5 (2): 204–216. doi:10.1080/00779962.1973.9723002. ISSN 0077-9962. Wikidata Q54755566. Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 February 2013.
  9. ↑ Alan Emmerson; Robert Hoare (28 October 2019). "Lepidoptera from Redvale, Albany, north of Auckland, New Zealand, 2004-2016: an annotated list". The Wētā. 53: 43–70. ISSN 0111-7696. Wikidata Q105342215.
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