Elachista eurychora

Elachista eurychora is a species of moth in the family Elachistidae. This species is endemic to New Zealand. It is classified as "Data Deficient" by the Department of Conservation.

Elachista eurychora
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Arthropoda
Class:
Insecta
Order:
Lepidoptera
Family:
Elachistidae
Genus:
Elachista
Species:
E. eurychora
Binomial name
Elachista eurychora
(Meyrick, 1919)[1]
Synonyms[2]
  • Irenicodes eurychora Meyrick, 1919

Taxonomy

This species was originally described by Edward Meyrick in 1919 and named Irenicoves eurychora.[2][3] Meyrick used a male specimen collected by George Hudson at Paekakariki in March.[3] Hudson discussed and illustrated this species under that name in his 1928 publication The Butterflies and Moths of New Zealand.[4] In 1971 Elwood Zimmerman photographed and illustrated this species and reassigned it to the family Elachistidae.[5] The holotype specimen is held at the Natural History Museum, London.[2]

Description

Meyrick described the species as follows:

♂. 13 mm. Head and thorax pale-ochreous. Palpi whitish, second joint suffused with grey anteriorly except at apex. Antennae grey. Abdomen dark grey, anal tuft ochreous-whitish mixed with grey. Fore-wings narrowly elongate-lanceolate, long-pointed, acute; pale brownish-ochreous; a costal streak of dark-fuscous irroration from base to near apex, and a similar somewhat narrower dorsal streak attenuated to extremities from base to near tornus: cilia grey, towards base scaled with pale ochreous. Hindwings dark fuscous: cilia rather dark grey.[3]

Distribution

This is endemic in New Zealand.[1][6] This species has only been found in the Wellington region.[7] Hudson's specimen is the only time this species has been collected.[8]

Host and habitat

It has been hypothesised that the host of the larvae of this species is a grass.[7] The habitat where the adult moth was originally collected was in rough vegetation on coastal sandhills or dunes.[4] However this locality has been significantly modified since that time.[7]

Conservation status

This species has been classified as having the "Data Deficient" conservation status under the New Zealand Threat Classification System.[9]

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References
  1. "Elachista eurychora (Meyrick, 1919)". www.nzor.org.nz. Landcare Research New Zealand Ltd. Retrieved 2018-05-31.
  2. Dugdale, J. S. (1988). "Lepidoptera - annotated catalogue, and keys to family-group taxa" (PDF). Fauna of New Zealand. 14: 1–269. ISBN 0477025188. Retrieved 3 February 2018.
  3. Meyrick, E. (1919). "Descriptions of New Zealand Lepidoptera". Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute. 51: 349–354 – via Biodiversity Heritage Library.
  4. Hudson, G. V. (1928). The Butterflies and Moths of New Zealand. Wellington: Ferguson & Osborn Ltd. p. 259. OCLC 25449322.
  5. Zimmerman, E. C. (1971). "The New Zealand moth genus Irenicodes (Lepidoptera: Cycnodiidae)". New Zealand Entomologist. 5 (1): 53–55.
  6. 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. 458. ISBN 9781877257933. OCLC 973607714.
  7. Patrick, B. H.; Dugdale, J. S. (2000). "Conservation status of the New Zealand Lepidoptera" (PDF). Science for Conservation. Department of Conservation, New Zealand. 136: 22. ISSN 1173-2946. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-05-01. Retrieved 2018-05-31.
  8. "NZTCS-Lepidoptera". www.doc.govt.nz. 2013. Retrieved 30 May 2018.
  9. Hoare, R.J.B.; Dugdale, J.S.; Edwards, E.D.; Gibbs, G.W.; Patrick, B.H.; Hitchmough, R.A.; Rolfe, J.R. (2017). "Conservation status of New Zealand butterflies and moths (Lepidoptera), 2015" (PDF). New Zealand Threat Classification Series. 20: 8.


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