Tmetolophota sulcana

Tmetolophota sulcana is a moth of the family Noctuidae. It is endemic to New Zealand.[1]

Tmetolophota sulcana
Female
Male
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
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Species:
T. sulcana
Binomial name
Tmetolophota sulcana
(Fereday, 1880)
Synonyms
  • Leucania sulcana Fereday, 1880
  • Ichneutica sulcana (Fereday 1880)

Taxonomy

It was described by Richard William Fereday in 1880.[2] In 2019 Robert J. B. Hoare undertook a major review of New Zealand noctuids. Hoare, having inspected the type material of this species, placed it within the genus Ichneutica.[3]

Description

Hudson described T. sulcana as follows:

The expansion of the wings is from 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 inches. The fore-wings are light ochreous with the veins white; there is a shaded, brownish, longitudinal streak near the apex, another from the end of the cell to the termen, a stronger streak from the base of the wing to near the tornus, and another along the dorsum; there is a minute black dot near the base above the middle, a slightly larger dot at about one-third, a conspicuous dot between the origins of veins 3 and 4, and a very minute dot on vein 6. Hind-wings dark blackish-grey, cilia paler.[4]

Distribution

T. sulcana are fairly common and are found throughout New Zealand.[5]

Habitat

Adults of this species are on the wing from November to March and prefer native grass, shrub and wetlands as well as native forest.[5]

References

  1. "Tmetolophota sulcana (Fereday, 1880)". www.nzor.org.nz. Landcare Research New Zealand Ltd. Retrieved 2017-06-30.
  2. Fereday, R. W. (1880). "Description of a (?) new species of the family Leucanidae, and a (?) new species of the genus (?) Chlenias". Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute. v.12 (1879): 267–270 via Biodiversity Heritage Library.
  3. Hoare, Robert J. B. (2019-12-09). "Noctuinae (Insecta: Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) part 2: Nivetica, Ichneutica". Fauna of New Zealand. 80: 1–455. doi:10.7931/J2/FNZ.80.
  4. Hudson, G.V. (1898). New Zealand moths and butterflies (Macro-lepidoptera). London: West, Newman & co. p. 13. doi:10.5962/bhl.title.32466.
  5. Hoare, Robert J. B. (2014). A photographic guide to moths & butterflies of New Zealand. Ball, Olivier. Auckland: New Holland Publishers (NZ) Ltd. p. 130. ISBN 9781869663995. OCLC 891672034.

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: New Zealand moths and butterflies (Macro-lepidoptera), by George Vernon Hudson (1898)


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