Notoreas atmogramma

Notoreas atmogramma is a species of moth in the family Geometridae. This species is endemic to New Zealand. It is a day flying moth that frequents alpine habitat.

Notoreas atmogramma
Female
Male
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Geometridae
Genus:	Notoreas
Species:	N. atmogramma
Binomial name
Notoreas atmogramma Meyrick, 1911

Taxonomy

This species was described by Edward Meyrick in 1911 using material collected by George Hudson at Mount Holdsworth in the Tararua Range at an altitude of approximately 1200m.[1][2] Hudson discussed and illustrated this species in his 1928 publication The Butterflies and Moths of New Zealand.[3] The lectotype specimen is held at the Natural History Museum, London.[1]

Description

Notoreas atmogramma observed on Mount Holdsworth

Meyrick described the species as follows:

♀︎. 25-27 mm. Head, palpi, and thorax black, mixed with whitish-ochreous-yellowish hairs and scales. Abdomen black, mixed on sides with whitish-yellow, segmental margins slenderly whitish. Forewings triangular, costa straight, apex obtuse, termen rounded, rather oblique ; dark fuscous, with a few scattered pale - yellowish scales ; lines cloudy, light - yellowish, subbasal, first (and second partially) whitish, first curved, median very indefinite, second angulated in middle, subterminal irregular : cilia white, basal half fuscous. Hindwings with termen rounded ; colour and markings as in forewings, but basal area irrorated with pale yellowish, subbasal and first lines obsolete, second somewhat bent in middle : cilia as in forewings. Under-surface of all wings light ochreous-yellow ; first and second lines indistinctly indicated by whitish suffusion ; forewings with some incomplete cloudy blackish lines ; hindwings with a blackish discal mark.[2]

Distribution

Mount Holdsworth, Tararua Range

This species is endemic to New Zealand.[4][5] Along with Mount Holdsworth, this species has been found at Mount Taranaki,[6] the Pouakai Range in Taranaki,[7] and Lewis Pass.[8]

Biology and behaviour

This species is on the wing in January and February.[3] It is an alpine moth that is active during the day.[3]

Habitat and host species

The species frequents open grass alpine habitat.[3] Larvae of species within the genus Notoreas feed exclusively on plants within the genera Pimelea and Kelleria.[9]

References

1. 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 12 June 2018.
2. Meyrick, Edward (1911). "Notes and Descriptions of New Zealand Lepidoptera". Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute. 43: 58–78 – via Biodiversity Heritage Library.
3. Hudson, G. V. (1928). The Butterflies and Moths of New Zealand. Wellington: Ferguson & Osborn Ltd. p. 124. OCLC 25449322.
4. "Notoreas atmogramma Meyrick, 1911". www.nzor.org.nz. Landcare Research New Zealand Ltd. Retrieved 2018-06-12.
5. 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. 460. ISBN 9781877257933. OCLC 973607714.
6. "Notoreas atmogramma Meyrick, 1911 AI.031851". www.tepapa.govt.nz. Retrieved 12 June 2018.
7. "Notoreas atmogramma Meyrick, 1911 AI.030964". www.tepapa.govt.nz. Retrieved 12 June 2018.
8. "Notoreas atmogramma Meyrick, 1911 AI.030966". www.TePapa.govt.nz. Retrieved 12 June 2018.
9. Patrick, BH; Hoare, RJB; Rhode, BE (December 2010). "Taxonomy and conservation of allopatric moth populations: a revisionary study of the Notoreas perornata Walker complex (Lepidoptera: Geometridae: Larentiinae), with special reference to southern New Zealand". New Zealand Journal of Zoology. 37 (4): 257–283. doi:10.1080/03014223.2010.511127.