Microcolona limodes

Microcolona limodes is a species of moth in the family Elachistidae. It is endemic to New Zealand. The larvae of this moth eat the seeds of endemic Myrsine species.

Microcolona limodes
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Elachistidae
Genus:	Microcolona
Species:	M. limodes
Binomial name
Microcolona limodes Meyrick, 1897[1]

Taxonomy

This species was described by Edward Meyrick in 1897 using material collected at Riccarton Bush in Christchurch during March.[2][3] George Hudson discussed this species in his 1928 publication The Butterflies and Moths of New Zealand.[4] The lectotype specimen is held at the Natural History Museum, London.[3]

Description

Meyrick described the species as follows:

♂︎♀︎. 7-8 mm. Head white, crown fuscous-sprinkled. Palpi white, second joint with a blackish lateral line, terminal joint with black subbasal and subapical rings. Antennae whitish, beneath fuscous-spotted. Thorax whitish-ochreous, with two dark fuscous posterior spots. Abdomen whitish. Legs dark fuscous, irrorated and ringed with whitish. Forewings very narrow, ochreous, mixed with white and sprinkled with dark fuscous, almost wholly suffused with white on anterior half and sometimes throughout; a raised black dot on fold at ​¹⁄₆, a larger one beneath fold at ​¹⁄₃, a third in disc before middle, a fourth beneath fold obliquely beyond third, almost dorsal, and two transversely placed close together or confluent above tornus; sometimes a blackish costal dot beyond middle ; a black apical dot, and another obliquely above and before it : cilia whitish-ochreous, round apex sprinkled with black. Hindwings whitish-grey; cilia whitish-grey-ochreous.[2]

Distribution

This species is endemic to New Zealand.[5] Other than in Canterbury, this species has also been found at Pitt Island[6] and Northland.[7]

Habitat and host species

This species has been found to be present in gumland heath habitat.[7] The larvae of this moth feed on the seeds of Myrsine australis and Myrsine salicina.[8][9]

References

1. Beccaloni, G.; Scoble, M.; Kitching, I.; Simonsen, T.; Robinson, G.; Pitkin, B.; Hine, A.; Lyal, C., eds. (2003). "Microcolona limodes". The Global Lepidoptera Names Index. Natural History Museum. Retrieved May 11, 2018.
2. Meyrick, E (1897). "Descriptions of Australian Microlepidoptera. XVII. Elachistidae". Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales. 22: 297–435. doi:10.5962/bhl.part.12726. ISSN 0370-047X – via Biodiversity Heritage Library.
3. Dugdale, J. S. (1988). Lepidoptera - annotated catalogue, and keys to family-group taxa (PDF). Fauna of New Zealand. 14. pp. 1–269. ISBN 978-0477025188. Retrieved 9 June 2018.
4. Hudson, G. V. (1928). The Butterflies and Moths of New Zealand. Wellington: Ferguson & Osborn Ltd. p. 303. OCLC 25449322.
5. 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. 457. ISBN 9781877257933. OCLC 973607714.
6. "Lincoln University Entomological Expedition to Pitt Island 10-24 January 1990". December 1991. hdl:10182/4157. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
7. Hoare, R. J. B. (February 2011). "Lepidoptera of gumland heaths — a threatened and rare ecosystem of northern New Zealand" (PDF). New Zealand Entomologist. 34 (1): 67–76. doi:10.1080/00779962.2011.9722212. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-02-08. Retrieved 9 June 2018.
8. "PlantSynz - Invertebrate herbivore biodiversity assessment tool: Database". plant-synz.landcareresearch.co.nz. Retrieved 2018-06-09.
9. Sullivan, Jon J.; Burrows, Colin J.; Dugdale, John S. (September 1995). "Insect predation of seeds of native New Zealand woody plants in some central South Island localities". New Zealand Journal of Botany. 33 (3): 355–364. doi:10.1080/0028825X.1995.10412962.

External links

• Images of this moth