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Acrocercops leucocyma

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Species of moth

Acrocercops leucocyma
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Gracillariidae
Genus: Acrocercops
Species: A. leucocyma
Binomial name
Acrocercops leucocyma
(Meyrick, 1889)
Synonyms
  • Gracilaria leucocyma Meyrick, 1889
  • Parectopa leucocyma (Meyrick, 1889)

Acrocercops leucocyma, also known as the kauri leafminer, is a species of moth in the family Gracillariidae. It is endemic to New Zealand.

Taxonomy

Illustration by Des Helmore

This species was described by Edward Meyrick in 1889 using a specimen he collected in the Waitakere Range in Auckland and named Gracilaria leucocyma. George Hudson discussed this species under the name Parectopa laucocyma in his 1928 publication The Butterflies and Moths of New Zealand. The specimen collected by Meyrick was the only recorded specimen until this species was rediscovered in 1954 by K. A. J. Wise. In 1961 Lajos Vári restricted the genus Parectopa to Holarctic species which do not have genital characteristics that resemble New Zealand species. As a result, John S. Dugdale placed this species in the genus Acrocercops. However the genus level classification of Acrocercops leucocyma is regarded as unsatisfactory and as such the species is currently also known as Acrocercops (s.l.) leucocyma. The holotype specimen is held at the Natural History Museum, London.

Description

Meyrick described this species as follows:

♀︎. 9mm. Head and palpi white. Antennae fuscous, beneath white. Thorax light grey. Abdomen whitish. Legs dark grey, ringed with white, posterior tibiae white. Fore-wings elongate, very narrow, pointed; grey; markings snow-white; a rather broad irregular streak along inner margin from base to apex, interrupted before middle by a very oblique indistinct line of ground-colour; eight short more or less wedge-shaped streaks from costa, first from 1⁄4, slenderly produced on costa towards base, first four outwardly oblique, remainder inwardly oblique, second and fourth reaching half across wing, the rest much shorter; a small irregular blackish apical dot, preceded by a white dot : cilia ochreous-grey-whitish, round apex whiter, with indications of two dark fuscous lines. Hindwings whitish-grey; cilia ochreous-grey-whitish.

Distribution

This species is endemic to New Zealand.

Biology and life cycle

The adult moths of this species are on the wing in spring and summer.

Habitat and host species

Acrocercops leucocyma larva feeding on a kauri leaf

The larvae feed on Agathis australis. They mine the leaves of their host plant.

References

  1. ^ "Acrocercops leucocyma (Meyrick, 1889)". www.nzor.org.nz. Landcare Research New Zealand Ltd. Retrieved 2018-06-18.
  2. ^ Meyrick, Edward (1889). "Descriptions of New Zealand Micro-Lepidoptera". Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute. 21: 154–188 – via Biodiversity Heritage Library.
  3. Hudson, G. V. (1928). The Butterflies and Moths of New Zealand. Wellington: Ferguson & Osborn Ltd. p. 322. OCLC 25449322.
  4. Wise, K. A. J. (1962). "Parectopa leucocyma (Meyrick) (Lepidoptera: Gracillariidae) rediscovered as a leafminer of kauri (Agathis australis Salisb.)". Transactions of the Royal Society of New Zealand. Zoology. 1: 373–375.
  5. ^ Dugdale, J. S. (1988). "Lepidoptera - annotated catalogue, and keys to family-group taxa" (PDF). Fauna of New Zealand. 14: 1–269. ISBN 0477025188. Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 July 2019. Retrieved 18 June 2018.
  6. Robert J. B. Hoare; Brian H Patrick; Thomas R. Buckley (22 July 2019). "A new leaf-mining moth from New Zealand, Sabulopteryx botanica sp. nov. (Lepidoptera, Gracillariidae, Gracillariinae), feeding on the rare endemic shrub Teucrium parvifolium (Lamiaceae), with a revised checklist of New Zealand Gracillariidae". ZooKeys. 865: 39–65. doi:10.3897/ZOOKEYS.865.34265. ISSN 1313-2989. PMC 6663935. PMID 31379443. Wikidata Q70104394.
  7. Gordon, Dennis P., ed. (2010). New Zealand inventory of biodiversity: Kingdom animalia: chaetognatha, ecdysozoa, ichnofossils. Vol. 2. p. 460. ISBN 978-1-877257-93-3. OCLC 973607714. OL 25288394M. Wikidata Q45922947.
  8. ^ Martin, N. A. "Kauri leafminer - Acrocercops leucocyma". www.nzacfactsheets.landcareresearch.co.nz. Landcare Research New Zealand Ltd. Retrieved 18 June 2018.
Taxon identifiers
Acrocercops leucocyma
Parectopa leucocyma
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