''Aoraia oreobolae'' is a species of

moth Moths are a group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not Butterfly, butterflies. They were previously classified as suborder Heterocera, but the group is Paraphyly, paraphyletic with respect to butterflies (s ...

in the family

Hepialidae The Hepialidae are a family of insects in the lepidopteran order. Moths of this family are often referred to as swift moths or ghost moths. Taxonomy and systematics The Hepialidae constitute by far the most diverse group of the infraorder Exop ...

. This species is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only 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 foun ...

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

. It is classified as "At Risk, Naturally Uncommon" by the

Department of Conservation Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...

Taxonomy

This species was first described by

John S. Dugdale John Stewart Dugdale (5 April 1934 – 4 September 2020) was a New Zealand entomologist known for his contributions to knowledge about New Zealand lepidoptera, as well as tachinid flies and cicadas The cicadas () are a superfamily, the ...

in 1994. The

holotype A holotype (Latin: ''holotypus'') is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of s ...

specimen was collected in the Tapanui Blue Mountains in Southland by N. Hudson on 8 March 1987. The holotype specimen is held at the

New Zealand Arthropod Collection The New Zealand Arthropod Collection is a collection of terrestrial invertebrates held by Maanaki Whenua – Landcare Research in Auckland, New Zealand. It specialises in the taxonomy and identification of indigenous and exotic invertebrate sp ...

Description

The

wingspan The wingspan (or just span) of a bird or an airplane is the distance from one wingtip to the opposite wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777–200 has a wingspan of , and a wandering albatross (''Diomedea exulans'') caught in 1965 had a wingsp ...

is 52–56 mm for males and 39–55 mm for females. It can be distinguished from other ''Aoraia'' species as the male has long antennae and the female is fully winged and the scales on those wings are thin and scattered.

Distribution

This species is endemic to New Zealand. They are only found in Southland.

Biology and behaviour

Adults are on wing in March.

Host species and habitat

The larvae feed on '' Oreobolus pectinatus'' and are associated with cushion bogs in the Blue Mountains containing this species of plant as well as ''Gaimardea setacea'' and ''

Dracophyllum muscoides ''Dracophyllum muscoides,'' commonly known as cushion inaka, is a small cushion plant in the family ''Ericaceae''. It is endemic to New Zealand and is found only in the South Island in sub-alpine regions. Description ''D. muscoides'' grows in ...

''.

Conservation status

This species has been classified as having the "At Risk, Naturally Uncommon" conservation status under the

New Zealand Threat Classification System The New Zealand Threat Classification System is used by the Department of Conservation to assess conservation priorities of species in New Zealand. The system was developed because the IUCN Red List, a similar conservation status system, had s ...

References

Moths described in 1994 Hepialidae Moths of New Zealand Endemic fauna of New Zealand Endangered biota of New Zealand Endemic moths of New Zealand {{Hepialidae-stub