Kiwaia pumila
Kiwaia pumila is a moth in the family Gelechiidae. It is endemic to New Zealand. It is classified as Nationally Vulnerable by the Department of Conservation.
Kiwaia pumila | |
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Species: | K. pumila |
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Kiwaia pumila (Philpott, 1928) | |
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Taxonomy
This species was described by Alfred Philpott in 1928 and named Gelechia pumila.[2] Philpott used specimens collected by Stuart Lindsay in Yaldhurst in May.[3] George Vernon Hudson discussed and illustrated the species in 1939.[4] In 1987 Klaus Siegfried Oskar Sattler placed this species in the genus Kiwaia.[5] The type specimen is held at the Canterbury Museum.[6]
Description
Philpott described the species as follows:
Male. 10-12mm. Head and palpi white, second segment of palpi sprinkled with fuscous. Antennae fuscous. Thorax white, tegulae more or less infuscated. Abdomen greyish white, basal segments brassy. Legs greyish fuscous, anterior tarsi obscurely annulated with whitish. Forewings elongate, apex acute, termen very oblique ; white, irrorated, especially on costal half, with pale ochreous ; some dull ochreous scales on apical half ; a blackish fuscous median stripe from base to apex, irregular on margins and sometimes almost interrupted ; fringes ochreous white with a few fuscous scales round apex. Hind wings with apex acute, termen moderately sinuate ; shining white ; fringes ochreous white.[3]
Distribution
K. pumila is endemic to New Zealand.[2][7] Its range covers Marlborough, Mackenzie country and mid Canterbury.[8] As well as the type locality of Yaldhurst, specimens have been collected at Clarence Bridge and Lake Pukaki,[4] as well as on McLeans Island in Christchurch.[9]
Life cycle and habitat
Adult moths are on the wing in March.[4] The species is associated with damp patches in grass habitat.[9]
Host plants
The host plant for this species is unknown.[8]
Conservation Status
This species has the "Nationally Vulnerable" conservation status under the New Zealand Threat Classification System.[1]
References
Wikispecies has information related to Kiwaia pumila. |
- Hoare, R.J.B.; Dugdale, J.S.; Edwards, E.D.; Gibbs, G.W.; Patrick, B.H.; Hitchmough, R.A.; Rolfe, J.R. (2017). "Conservation status of New Zealand butterflies and moths (Lepidoptera), 2015" (PDF). New Zealand Threat Classification Series. 20: 6.
- "Kiwaia pumila (Philpott, 1928)". www.nzor.org.nz. Landcare Research New Zealand Ltd. Retrieved 5 May 2018.
- Philpott, Alfred (1928). "Some new species of Lepidoptera". Records of the Canterbury Museum. 3 (3): 181–183.
- Hudson, George Vernon (1939). A supplement to the butterflies and moths of New Zealand. Wellington: Ferguson & Osborn Ltd. p. 439.
- Sattler, K. S. O. (1987). "The systematic status of the genera Ilseopsis Povolny, 1965, and Empista Povolny, 1968 (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae: Gnorimoschemini)". Nota Lepidopterologica. 10 (1–4): 224–235. ISSN 0342-7536 – via Biodiversity Heritage Library.
- Dugdale, J. S. (1988). "Lepidoptera-annotated catalogue, and keys to family-group taxa" (PDF). Fauna of New Zealand. 14: 1–264 – via Landcare Research New Zealand Ltd.
- 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. 459. ISBN 9781877257933. OCLC 973607714.
- Patrick, Brian; Dugdale, John S. (2000). Conservation status of the New Zealand lepidoptera (PDF). Wellington, N.Z.: Department of Conservation, New Zealand. p. 26. ISBN 0478218672. OCLC 154670803. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-05-01. Retrieved 2018-05-05.
- Pawson, Stephen M.; Emberson, Rowan M. (2000). "The conservation status of invertebrates in Canterbury". Conservation Advisory Science Notes: 1–40. hdl:10182/1658. ISSN 1171-9834.