Orthenches chlorocoma

Orthenches chlorocoma is a moth of the family Plutellidae first described by Edward Meyrick in 1885.[1] It is endemic to New Zealand and has been observed in the North and South Islands.

Orthenches chlorocoma
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Arthropoda
Class:
Insecta
Order:
Lepidoptera
Family:
Plutellidae
Genus:
Orthenches
Species:
O. chlorocoma
Binomial name
Orthenches chlorocoma

Taxonomy

This species was first described by Edward Meyrick in November 1885 and named Orthenches chlorocoma.[2][3] In 1886 Meyrick described this species in greater detail.[4] Meyrick used larvae collected in Christchurch from whom he bred one adult specimen in April.[4] George Hudson discussed and illustrated this species in his 1928 book The butterflies and moths of New Zealand.[5] The male holotype is held at the Natural History Museum, London.[3]

Description

Meyrick described the adult of the species as follows:

Male. — 15 mm. Head and antenna? pale whitish-yellowish. Palpi moderate, yellow whitish, second joint with a dark grey subapical band, terminal joint as long as second. Thorax pale whitish-yellowish, sides brownish. Abdomen ochreous-whitish. Legs fuscous, beneath whitish, anterior pair blackish. Fore-wings elongate, narrow, costa slightly sinuate, apex and hind-margin rounded ; fuscous- whitish, towards costa and base slightly yellowish-tinged, with thin irregular blackish irroration through-out, tending to accumulate in small spots, especially on margins ; a small round black spot in disc at 2⁄3 : cilia pale whitish-yellowish, suffusedly barred with blackish-grey. Hindwings elongate-ovate, with a scaled membranous ridge along lower median vein beneath ; grey-whitish ; cilia grey-whitish, at apex pale whitish-yellowish, with a blackish-grey spot.[4]

Meyrick then went on to describe the larva and pupa of the species as follows:

Larva 16-legged, slender, attenuated towards both extremities, especially posteriorly ; whitish-brown or whitish-green ; a straight slender dorsal line and two rather irregular ill-defined lines on each side of it ochreous-brown or green, according to ground colour ; beneath these a rather broad yellowish-white spiracular line ; space beneath 'this dull brown; spots minute, black ; head grey-whitish or greenish-whitish, irregularly striped longitudinally with dark fuscous. Pupa in a rather thin firm spindle-shaped cocoon.[4]

Distribution

This species is endemic to New Zealand and has been observed in the North and South Islands.[6]

Habitat and hosts

This species feeds on native broom species in the genus Carmichaelia including Carmichaelia australis.[5][4]

References
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Orthenches chlorocoma.
  1. Gordon, Dennis P., ed. (2010). New Zealand inventory of biodiversity: Kingdom animalia : chaetognatha, ecdysozoa, ichnofossils. Vol. 2. p. 463. ISBN 978-1-877257-93-3. OCLC 973607714. OL 25288394M. Wikidata Q45922947.
  2. Edward Meyrick (November 1885). "Descriptions of New Zealand Microlepidoptera. Gelechiadae. VIII. Tineina (part)". New Zealand Journal of Science. 2 (12): 591. Wikidata Q108097450.
  3. John Stewart Dugdale (23 September 1988). "Lepidoptera - annotated catalogue, and keys to family-group taxa". Fauna of New Zealand. Department of Scientific and Industrial Research. 14: 73. doi:10.7931/J2/FNZ.14. ISSN 0111-5383. Wikidata Q45083134.
  4. Edward Meyrick (May 1886). "Descriptions of New Zealand Micro-Lepidoptera". Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute. 18: 175–176. ISSN 1176-6158. Wikidata Q109405465.
  5. George Vernon Hudson (1928), The butterflies and moths of New Zealand, Illustrator: George Hudson, Wellington, pp. 329–330, LCCN 88133764, OCLC 25449322, Wikidata Q58593286{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  6. "Orthenches chlorocoma Meyrick, 1885". www.nzor.org.nz. Retrieved 2022-05-04.



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