''Scythris nigra'' is a species of

moth Moths are a paraphyletic group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not butterflies, with moths making up the vast majority of the order. There are thought to be approximately 160,000 species of moth, many of ...

in the family Scythrididae first described by

Alfred Philpott Alfred Philpott (15 December 1870 – 24 July 1930) was a New Zealand museum curator, entomologist and writer. He was born in Tysoe, Warwickshire, England, on 15 December 1870. He became the first person to describe ''Zelleria maculata ' ...

in 1931. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found els ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 List of islands of New Zealand, smaller islands. It is the ...

. The larvae of this species feeds on ''

Hebe odora ''Veronica odora'', known as the boxwood hebe, mountain-box, ''Hebe odora'' or ''Hebe buxifolia'', is a plant in the family Plantaginaceae, and it is native to New Zealand. ''Veronica odora'' was discovered on the Auckland Islands by J.D Hooke ...

.'' The adults are day flying and on the wing in December.

Taxonomy

This species was first described by Alfred Philpott in 1931 using specimens collected on

Maungatua Maungatua, known also as Maukaatua is a prominent ridge in the Taieri Plains in Otago, New Zealand. It rises 895 metres above the floodplain of the Taieri River, directly to the west of Dunedin's airport at Momona. It can be clearly seen from mu ...

in December by C. E. Clarke. The male

holotype A holotype is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism, known to have been used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of seve ...

specimen is held at the

Auckland War Memorial Museum The Auckland War Memorial Museum Tāmaki Paenga Hira (or simply the Auckland Museum) is one of New Zealand's most important museums and war memorials. Its collections concentrate on New Zealand history (and especially the history of the Auck ...

Description

Fig 3 MA I437921 TePapa Plate-LX-A-supplement full (cropped)

Philpott described this species as follows: This species can be distinguished from the similar appearing '' S. triatma'' as it has a much darker appearance and lacks the bluish-slate colour that can be seen on the fore-wings of ''S. triatma''.

Distribution

This species is endemic to New Zealand and has been observed in the lower parts of the South Island.

Behaviour

The adults of this species are day flying and on the wing in December.

Habitat and hosts

''S. nigra'' normally lives in alpine habitats however it can be also found at relatively low altitudes such as at Waitahuna Hill near Lake Mahinerangi. The larvae of this species feed on ''

''.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q14325826 Scythrididae Moths described in 1931 Moths of New Zealand Endemic fauna of New Zealand Taxa named by Alfred Philpott Endemic moths of New Zealand