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Trachypepla anastrella
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Oecophoridae
Genus:	Trachypepla
Species:	T. anastrella
Binomial name
Trachypepla anastrella Meyrick, 1883

Trachypepla anastrella is a species of moth in the family Oecophoridae. It is endemic to New Zealand and has been observed in the North and South Islands. Larvae are leaf litter feeders from the host plant Olearia fragrantissima and adults are on the wing from December until March.

Taxonomy

This species was first described in 1883 by Edward Meyrick and named Trachypepla anastrella. Later that same year Meyrick gave another abbreviated description of the species. In 1884 Meyrick gave a much fuller description of T. anastrellla. In 1928 George Hudson discussed and illustrated this species. Hudson would go on to discuss and illustrate this species again in his 1939 publication and state that the description and illustration given in his 1928 publication related to Euchersadaula tristis. J. S. Dugdale confirmed that the 1928 illustration of that species by Hudson is of the species Euchersadaula tristis. The male lectotype specimen, collected in reserved bush and forest in Dunedin, is held at the Natural History Museum, London.

Description

Meyrick described T. anastrella as follows:

Male. — 11+1⁄2-14 mm. Head, palpi, and thorax dark fuscous, somewhat mixed with whitish-ochreous. Antennae dark fuscous. Abdomen fuscous. Legs dark fuscous, middle and posterior tibiae with ochreous-whitish central and apical rings, all tarsi with ochreous-whitish rings at apex of joints. Forewings moderate, costa moderately arched, slightly sinuate in middle, apex rounded, hindmargin very obliquely rounded; fuscous or ochreous- fuscous, coarsely irrorated with dark fuscous or blackish; sometimes a suffused oblique ochreous transverse spot almost at base; a tuft of raised scales at base; a cloudy blackish transverse line from 1⁄4 of costa to 1⁄3 of inner margin, tolerably rectangularly angulated in middle, preceded by two large tufts of raised scales above and below middle; beyond this the ground-colour is suffusedly paler or mixed with ochreous-whitish towards costa; costa suffusedly dark fuscous towards middle; two tufts of raised scales in disc beyond middle; a very ill-defined dark fuscous transverse line from 4⁄5 of costa to anal angle, angulated inwards beneath costa, sometimes followed on costa by an ochreous-whitish spot : cilia fuscous, with two cloudy blackish lines. Hindwings dark fuscous-grey; cilia fuscous, with a cloudy darker line.

Distribution

This species is endemic to New Zealand. It has been observed in the North and South Islands as well as on Mokopuna and Matiu / Somes Islands.

Behaviour

This species is on the wing from December until March.

Habitat and hosts

This species has been observed living in hind dune habitat on Kaitorete Spit. Larvae of this species feed on the leaf litter of the "near threatened" plant species Olearia fragrantissima.

References

1. ^ Gordon, Dennis P., ed. (2010). New Zealand inventory of biodiversity: Kingdom animalia: chaetognatha, ecdysozoa, ichnofossils. Vol. 2. p. 462. ISBN 978-1-877257-93-3. OCLC 973607714. OL 25288394M. Wikidata Q45922947.
2. Edward Meyrick (1883). "Descriptions of New Zealand Microlepidoptera. III. Oecophoridae. [Abstract]". New Zealand Journal of Science. 1: 523. Wikidata Q111018380.
3. Edward Meyrick (1883). "Descriptions of Australian Microlepidoptera. IX. Oecophoridae (continued)". Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales. 8: 370. doi:10.5962/BHL.PART.28660. ISSN 0370-047X. Wikidata Q112106969.
4. ^ Edward Meyrick (1884). "Descriptions of New Zealand Microlepidoptera. III. Oecophoridae". Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute. 16: 19–20. ISSN 1176-6158. Wikidata Q63976486.
5. Hudson, G. V. (1928), The butterflies and moths of New Zealand, Illustrator: George Hudson, Wellington: Ferguson and Osborn Limited, p. 286, LCCN 88133764, OCLC 25449322, Wikidata Q58593286
6. ^ George Vernon Hudson (1939), A supplement to the butterflies and moths of New Zealand, Illustrator: George Hudson, Wellington: Ferguson and Osborn Limited, p. 446, 449, OCLC 9742724, Wikidata Q109420935
7. ^ Dugdale , J. S. (23 September 1988). "Lepidoptera - annotated catalogue, and keys to family-group taxa". Fauna of New Zealand. 14. Department of Scientific and Industrial Research: 91, 106. doi:10.7931/J2/FNZ.14. ISSN 0111-5383. Wikidata Q45083134.
8. "Trachypepla anastrella Meyrick, 1883". www.nzor.org.nz. Retrieved 2022-03-04.
9. ^ John Stewart Dugdale; John Hutcheson (August 1997). "Invertebrate values of kanuka (Kunzea ericoides) stands, Gisborne Region". Science for Conservation. 55. Department of Conservation: 1–30. ISSN 1173-2946. Wikidata Q110426224.
10. J. R. Grehan (January 1990). "Invertebrate survey of Somes Island (Matiu) and Mokopuna Island, Wellington Harbour, New Zealand". New Zealand Entomologist. 13 (1): 62–75. doi:10.1080/00779962.1990.9722595. ISSN 0077-9962. Wikidata Q54670113.
11. Brian Patrick (January 1994). "Lepidoptera of Kaitorete Spit, Canterbury". New Zealand Entomologist. 17 (1): 52–63. doi:10.1080/00779962.1994.9721985. ISSN 0077-9962. Wikidata Q57483708.
12. Hamish J. H. Patrick; Mike H. Bowie; Barry W. Fox; Brian H. Patrick (2011). "The moths of Quail Island (Ōtamahua): a faunal comparison of an island under restoration with other sites on Banks Peninsula". New Zealand Natural Sciences. 36. doi:10.26021/583. ISSN 0113-7492. Wikidata Q97665452.
13. Brian H. Patrick (December 2000). Lepidoptera of small-leaved divaricating Olearia in New Zealand and their conservation priority (PDF). Vol. 168. Wellington: Department of Conservation. pp. 1–26. ISBN 0-478-22015-4. ISSN 1173-2946. OCLC 48661253. OL 31493622M. Wikidata Q63012786. {{cite book}}: |journal= ignored (help)

• Moths described in 1883
• Oecophorinae
• Moths of New Zealand
• Endemic fauna of New Zealand
• Taxa named by Edward Meyrick
• Endemic moths of New Zealand