Austramathes pessota

Austramathes pessota is a species of moth in the family Noctuidae.[1] It is endemic to New Zealand.[2]

Austramathes pessota
Female
Male
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Superfamily: Noctuoidea
Family: Noctuidae
Genus: Austramathes
Species:
A. pessota
Binomial name
Austramathes pessota
(Meyrick, 1887)
Synonyms
  • Miselia pessota Meyrick, 1887
  • Sympistis pessota (Meyrick, 1887)
  • Hypnotype pessota (Meyrick, 1887)
  • Andesia pessota (Meyrick, 1887)

Taxonomy

A. pessota was first described by Edward Meyrick in 1887 under the name Miselia pessota.[3] In 1906 this species was tentatively placed in the genus Sympistis by George Hampson.[4] Meyrick, in 1911, disagreed with this placement but somewhat doubtfully suggested placing the species in the genus Hypnotype.[5] Meyrick again reconsidered the taxonomy of this species in 1914 and placed it within the genus Andesia.[6] Robert J. B. Hoare studied the species and placed it within the genus Austramathes in 2017.[1]

Description

George Hudson described the species as follows:

The expansion of the wings is 1 inch. The fore-wings are dull purplish-brown; there is an oblong black mark at the base of the dorsum containing a slender curved white line; the orbicular is rather small, round, margined first with dull white and then with black; the reniform is large, oblong, dull white, margined with pale ochreous towards the base of the wing; there is a conspicuous oblong black mark between the orbicular and reniform stigmata. The hind-wings are dull grey, with the cilia paler.[7]

Distribution

A. pessota can be found in Northland, in the southern North Island and in the South Island, mainly on the eastern side that island.[1]

Host species

Larvae of this species feed on Melicytus alpinus and Hoare states it is likely that Melicytus micranthus is also a host.[1]

References
  1. Hoare, R.J.B. (23 June 2017). "Noctuinae (Insecta: Lepidoptera: Noctuidae). Part 1, Austramathes, Cosmodes, Proteuxoa, Physetica" (PDF). Fauna of New Zealand. 73: 1–130. doi:10.7931/J2/FNZ.73.
  2. "Austramathes pessota (Meyrick, 1887)". www.nzor.org.nz. Landcare Research New Zealand Ltd. Retrieved 30 March 2018.
  3. Meyrick, Edward (1887). "Monograph of New Zealand Noctuina". Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand. 19: 3–40 – via Biodiversity Heritage Library.
  4. Hampson, George Francis (1906). "Catalogue of the Noctuidae in the collection of the British Museum". Catalogue of the Lepidoptera Phalaenae in the British museum. 6: 1–532 – via Biodiversity Heritage Library.
  5. Meyrick, Edward (1912). "A revision of the classification of the New Zealand Caradrinina". Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand. 44: 88–107 – via Biodiversity Heritage Library.
  6. Meyrick, Edward (1914). "Descriptions of New Zealand Lepidoptera". Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand. 46: 101–118 – via Biodiversity Heritage Library.
  7. Hudson, George Vernon (1898). New Zealand moths and butterflies (Macro-lepidoptera). London: West, Newman & co. p. 6. Retrieved 30 March 2018.

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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