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Asterivora oleariae
Species of moth From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Asterivora oleariae is a species of moth in the family Choreutidae.[2] It is endemic to New Zealand and can be found on Stewart Island, Big South Cape Island and The Snares. There is one generation a year on The Snares with adults being on the wing in January and February. Larvae are feed on plants in the Olearia genus.
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Taxonomy
This species was first described by J. S. Dugdale in 1979 using specimens collected by Donald S. Horning and named Asterivora oleariae.[3] In 1988 Dugdale confirmed this placement.[1] The male holotype specimen, collected at the Snares Islands, is held at the New Zealand Arthropod Collection.[1]
Description
Dugdale described this species as follows:
Antenna with whorls of long setulae in ♂; frons white-scaled ventrally, darker above; ocelli fringed below by a line of white scales; head, thorax, and abdomen clothed above in grey-brown scaleswhite-tipped on head, uniform elsewhere-intermingled with white scales; venter with uniform buff or white scales. Forewing patterned in dark grey and white ... pale areas larger in ♀; hindwing dark grey, white sub terminal band lacking. Length (vertex to wingtip) 8.5-8.7 mm (The Snares), 7.0 mm (Stewart I.).[3]
The pupa of this species is black in colour.[3]
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Distribution
This species is endemic to New Zealand but has been collected in The Snares, Stewart Island and Big South Cape Island.[2][3]
Life cycle
There is one generation per year on The Snares.[3] Adults are on the wing in January and February.[3] It has been hypothesised that the larval development coincides with the leaf development of its host plants.[3]
Hosts
The larvae feed on plants in the genus Olearia including Olearia colensoi, Olearia lyalli and Olearia angustifolia.[3]
References
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