Heterocrossa iophaea

Heterocrossa iophaea is a species of moth in the family Carposinidae. It is endemic to New Zealand.

Heterocrossa iophaea
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Arthropoda
Class:
Insecta
Order:
Lepidoptera
Family:
Carposinidae
Genus:
Heterocrossa
Species:
H. iophaea
Binomial name
Heterocrossa iophaea
Synonyms[2]
  • Carposina iophaea (Meyrick, 1907)
  • Heterocrossa thalamota Meyrick, 1909

Taxonomy

This species was described by Edward Meyrick in 1907 using material collected by Alfred Philpott in Invercargill.[3][2] In 1922 Meyrick classified Heterocrossa as a synonym of the genus Carposina.[4][5] George Hudson discussed and illustrated this species under the name Carposina iophaea in his 1928 publication The Butterflies and Moths of New Zealand.[6] In 1978 Elwood Zimmerman argued that the genus Heterocrassa should not be a synonym of Carposina as the genitalia of the species within the genus Heterocrassa are distinctive.[4] In 1988 John S. Dugdale assigned the species back to the genus Heterocrossa.[2] He also synonymised Heterocrossa thalamota with Heterocrossa iophaea.[2] The lectotype specimen is held at the Natural History Museum, London.[2]

Description

This species was described by Meyrick as follows:

♀. 18–19 mm. Head, palpi, and thorax dark fuscous irrorated with whitish, face and palpi internally pale ochreous, palpi 4. Abdomen grey, two basal segments whitish-ochreous. Forewings elongate, narrow, costa gently arched, apex round-pointed, termen almost straight, oblique; dark fuscous irrorated with whitish, sometimes more or less mixed with pale ochreous; a series of small dark spots along costa; tufts brownish-ochreous suffusedly edged with black and posteriorly margined with whitish, viz., two near base sometimes surrounded with ochreous suffusion, a transverse angulated series beyond ​1⁄4, and five arranged round middle of disc, enclosed space sometimes blackish; a more or less defined angulated dark subterminal line: cilia rather dark fuscous irrorated with whitish. Hind-wings grey: cilia whitish-grey.[3]

Distribution

This species is endemic to New Zealand.[1][7] As well as the type locality of Invercargill, this species has also occurred in Wyndham, in the Peel Forest in Canterbury,[8] Waiho Gorge in Westland,[8] and Puhi Puhi in Marlborough.[8] Specimens have also been collected in the North Island in locations such as at Whakapapa,[6] Whangarei,[9] Hawkes Bay,[10][11] Waimarino in the Bay of Plenty region[8] and Price's Bush in the Tararua Range.[8]

Biology and behaviour

This species is on the wing between October and February.[3] The adult moths rest on the trunks of trees or alternatively hide among the twigs and leaves on the ground.[6] The manner in which the adult moth folds its wings assists it in finding hiding places.[6] The adult moths are attracted to light.[10] They have also been collected through the beating of bush.[9]

Habitat and host species
Mataī tree – host plant of Heterocrossa iophaea larvae

This species is found in native forest habitat.[3][6] The larvae feed on the immature seeds of the mataī tree, Prumnopitys taxifolia.[12] As the seeds mature the larvae switch to eating the sugar-rich outer wall tissues of the seed before pupating.[12]

References
  1. "Heterocrossa iophaea Meyrick, 1907". www.nzor.org.nz. Landcare Research New Zealand Ltd. Retrieved 16 June 2018.
  2. 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 15 June 2018.
  3. Meyrick, Edward (1907). "Notes and descriptions of Lepidoptera". Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute. 39: 106–121 – via Biodiversity Heritage Library.
  4. Zimmerman, Elwood (1978). Insects of Hawaii. 9. Hawaii: University of Hawaii Press. p. 797. hdl:10125/7338. ISBN 9780824804879.
  5. Meyrick, Edward (1922). "Lepidoptera Heterocera Fam. Carposinidiae". Genera Insectorum. fasc.176–180: 1–235 – via Biodiversity Heritage Library.
  6. Hudson, G. V. (1928). The Butterflies and Moths of New Zealand. Wellington: Ferguson & Osborn Ltd. p. 216. OCLC 25449322.
  7. 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.
  8. Hudson, G. V. (1939). A supplement to the butterflies and moths of New Zealand. Wellington: Ferguson & Osborn Ltd. p. 454. OCLC 221041540. Retrieved 16 June 2018.
  9. Patterson, S. C. (1930). "List of Lepidoptera of Whangarei". Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute. 61: 554–561.
  10. Davies, T. H. (1973). "List of Lepidoptera collected in areas surrounding Hastings and Napier". New Zealand Entomologist. 5 (2): 204–216. doi:10.1080/00779962.1973.9723002.
  11. Keesing, V. (6 May 2012). "Ecological Review of the Terrestrial Ecological AEE Prepared for the Hawke's Bay Regional Council Ruataniwha Water Storage Project" (PDF). www.hbrc.govt.nz. Retrieved 16 June 2018.
  12. 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.
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