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Tingena letharga

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Tingena letharga
Male lectotype
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Oecophoridae
Genus: Tingena
Species:
T. letharga
Binomial name
Tingena letharga
(Meyrick, 1883)[1]
Synonyms[2]
  • Oecophora letharga Meyrick, 1883
  • Borkhausenia letharga (Meyrick, 1883)

Tingena letharga is a species of moth in the family Oecophoridae.[2] It is endemic to New Zealand and has been observed in Otago. Adults are on the wing in December and January.

Taxonomy

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This species was first described by Edward Meyrick in 1883 using specimens collected in Dunedin in January.[3][4] Meyrick originally named the species Oecophora horaea.[3] Meyrick went on to give a fuller description of the species in 1884.[4] In 1915 Meyrick placed this species within the Borkhausenia genus.[5] In 1926 Alfred Philpott was unable to study the genitalia of the male of this species as it was not represented in collections in New Zealand.[6] George Hudson discussed this species under the name Borkhausenia letharga in his 1928 publication The butterflies and moths of New Zealand.[7] In 1988 J. S. Dugdale placed this species in the genus Tingena.[2] The male lectotype specimen is held at the Natural History Museum, London.[2]

Description

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Illustration of T. letharga by George Hudson.

Meyrick first described this species as follows:

Fore wings whitish-grey, irrorated with fuscous, three anterior costal spots, two discal dots, a third on fold before first, and posterior transverse angulated line dark fuscous ; hind wings grey.[3]

Meyrick described this species more fully as follows:

Male. — 16-16+12 mm. Head, palpi, antennae, and thorax ochreous-whitish, mixed with fuscous-grey. Abdomen ochreous-whitish. Anterior and middle legs fuscous-grey, central ring of tibiae and apex of all joints ochreous-whitish ; posterior legs ochreous-whitish. Forewings moderate, costa moderately arched, apex rounded, hindmargin extremely obliquely rounded ; pale whitish-grey, slightly ochreous-tinged, and irrorated with dark fuscous ; a cloudy fuscous spot on costa at base, another at 14, and a third in middle ; a small cloudy dark fuscous spot in disc near base ; a dark fuscous dot in disc before middle, a second beyond middle, and a third rather obliquely before first on fold ; a cloudy fuscous outwards-bent transverse line from f of costa to anal angle, indented inwards beneath costa : cilia pale whitish-ochreous, sprinkled with dark fuscous. Hindwings light grey, apex darker ; cilia grey-whitish, with a distinct grey line near base.[4]

Distribution

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This species is endemic to New Zealand and has been observed in Otago including at Dunedin and Ida Valley.[1][4][7]

Behaviour

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Adults of this species are on the wing in December and January.[4][7]

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 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: 102–103. doi:10.7931/J2/FNZ.14. ISSN 0111-5383. Wikidata Q45083134.
  3. ^ a b c Edward Meyrick (September 1883). "Descriptions of New Zealand Micro-Lepidoptera.—III.—Oecophoridae". New Zealand Journal of Science. 1: 524. Wikidata Q106368126.
  4. ^ a b c d e Edward Meyrick (1884). "Descriptions of New Zealand Microlepidoptera. III. Oecophoridae". Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute. 16: 35–36. ISSN 1176-6158. Wikidata Q63976486.
  5. ^ E. Meyrick (12 July 1915). "Revision of New Zealand Tineina". Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute. 47: 212. ISSN 1176-6158. Wikidata Q63123349.
  6. ^ Alfred Philpott (1926). "List of New Zealand species of Borkhausenia (Oecophoridae: Lepidoptera), including new species". Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute. 56: 399–413. ISSN 1176-6158. Wikidata Q110157185.
  7. ^ a b c George Vernon Hudson (1928), The butterflies and moths of New Zealand, Illustrator: George Hudson, Wellington: Ferguson and Osborn Limited, p. 271, LCCN 88133764, OCLC 25449322, Wikidata Q58593286