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Tingena crotala

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Tingena crotala
Male lectotype
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Oecophoridae
Genus: Tingena
Species:
T. crotala
Binomial name
Tingena crotala
(Meyrick, 1915)[1]
Synonyms[2]
  • Borkhausenia crotala Meyrick, 1915
  • Borkhausenia plagiatella Walker, 1863
  • Oecophora contextella (not of Walker) Meyrick, 1884

Tingena crotala is a species of moth in the family Oecophoridae.[2] It is endemic to New Zealand and is found both in the North and South Islands. This species inhabits native forest and is on the wing in November and December.

Taxonomy

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This species was first described by Edward Meyrick in 1915 and named Borkhausenia crotala.[3] Meyrick was proposing the species name B. crotala for his conception of Walker's Oecophora contextella.[2][4] George Hudson discussed and illustrated this species under the name Borkhausenia plagiatella in his 1928 publication The butterflies and moths of New Zealand, having synonymised B. crotala in that publication.[5] Alfred Philpott also discussed this species under the name B. plagiatella.[6] In that publication Philpott recommended that the two forms encapsulated by the concepts B. crotala and B. plagiatella be separated on the basis of the differences in the male genitalia.[6] In 1988 J. S. Dugdale resurrected the species originally described by Meyrick in 1915 and placed it within the genus Tingena.[2] The male lectotype, collected in Dunedin, is held in the Natural History Museum, London.[2]

Description

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Borkhausenia plagiatella, now known as Tingena crotala, typical male as illustrated by George Hudson.
Borkhausenia plagiatella, now known as Tingena crotala pale variety of male as illustrated by George Hudson.

This species is variable in appearance.[2] T. crotala has a white scaled head.[2] Meyrick described his conception of Walker's B. contextella, later to be named B. crotala, as follows:

Male, female. — 13-15 mm. Head ochreous-white. Palpi white, second joint irrorated with dark fuscous except at apex, terminal joint with a cloudy dark fuscous submedian ring. Antennae grey. Thorax whitish or ochreous-white, anterior margin suffused with dark fuscous. Abdomen whitish-ochreous. Legs dark fuscous, middle tibiae with central and apical rings, hairs of posterior tibiae, and apex of all tarsal joints ochreous-whitish. Forewings moderate, costa moderately arched, apex rounded, hindmargin very obliquely rounded ; white, irregularly irrorated with fuscous-grey ; a cloudy dark grey fascia from base of costa, and a second from costa at 14, confluent in middle and extending almost to inner margin at 13, mixed with ochreous at apex, and margined posteriorly by an oblique blackish streak below middle, sometimes connected with a blackish dot in disc before middle ; a cloudy dark grey fascia spot on costa at 45, giving rise to a curved cloudy blackish-grey transverse line to anal angle ; all these grey markings are sometimes partially suffused and confluent ; a cloudy dark grey apical spot : cilia white, irregularly mixed with dark grey, forming a cloudy spot at apex and anal angle. Hind-wings pale grey ; cilia grey-whitish.[4]

Distribution

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T. crotala is endemic to New Zealand and has been observed in Auckland, Waimarino, Christchurch, Dunedin, Invercargill, Lake Wakatipu.[7][3][1]

Behaviour

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Adults are on the wing in November and December.[8]

Habitat

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This species has been collected in native forest but is also said to have an affinity with Cupressus macrocarpa.[8] The larvae of this species feeds on leaf litter.[9]

References

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  1. ^ a b 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. ^ a b c d e f g John Stewart Dugdale (23 September 1988). "Lepidoptera - annotated catalogue, and keys to family-group taxa". Fauna of New Zealand. 14. Department of Scientific and Industrial Research: 101. doi:10.7931/J2/FNZ.14. ISSN 0111-5383. Wikidata Q45083134.
  3. ^ a b E. Meyrick (12 July 1915). "Revision of New Zealand Tineina". Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute. 47: 213. ISSN 1176-6158. Wikidata Q63123349.
  4. ^ a b Edward Meyrick (1884). "Descriptions of New Zealand Microlepidoptera. III. Oecophoridae". Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute. 16: 37. ISSN 1176-6158. Wikidata Q63976486.
  5. ^ George Vernon Hudson (1928), The butterflies and moths of New Zealand, Illustrator: George Hudson, Wellington: Ferguson and Osborn Limited, p. 270, LCCN 88133764, OCLC 25449322, Wikidata Q58593286
  6. ^ a b Alfred Philpott (1926). "List of New Zealand species of Borkhausenia (Oecophoridae: Lepidoptera), including new species". Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute. 56: 401. ISSN 1176-6158. Wikidata Q110157185.
  7. ^ Clarke, Charles E. (9 August 1920). "Lepidoptera of Auckland and the King-country". Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute. 52: 40. ISSN 1176-6158. Wikidata Q110226875.
  8. ^ a b Alfred Philpott (1917). "A list of the Lepidoptera of Otago". Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute. 49: 230. ISSN 1176-6158. Wikidata Q63958657.
  9. ^ J. W. Early; J. S. Dugdale (January 1994). "Fustiserphus (Hymenoptera: Proctotrupidae) parasitises Lepidoptera in leaf litter in New Zealand". New Zealand Journal of Zoology. 21 (3): 249–252. doi:10.1080/03014223.1994.9517992. ISSN 0301-4223. Wikidata Q110163411.