''Aponotoreas dissimilis'' is a

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 ...

of the family

Geometridae The geometer moths are 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, paraphyleti ...

. It 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 ...

Taxonomy

This species was 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 Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in ...

in 1914 under the name ''Venusia dissimilis'' using material collected by Merlin Owen Pasco. In 1986 R. C. Craw described the new genus '' Aponotoreas'' and included ''A. dissimilis'' within it.

Description

''A. dissimilis'' is a reddish brown colour mixed with grey. The forewings are triangular in shape. Both the fore and hind wings have a number of dark coloured faintly waved lines on them and there is a small black disk shaped dot on the fore wings. The female of the species has a similar appearance to the male but is a more grey-brown colour.

Distribution

The

type Type may refer to: Science and technology Computing * Typing, producing text via a keyboard, typewriter, etc. * Data type, collection of values used for computations. * File type * TYPE (DOS command), a command to display contents of a file. * ...

specimen of this species was collected by Merlin Owen Pasco at

Ben Lomond Ben Lomond (, ), , is a mountain in the Scottish Highlands. Situated on the eastern shore of Loch Lomond, it is the most southerly of the Munros. Ben Lomond lies within the Ben Lomond National Memorial Park and the Loch Lomond and The Trossach ...

in February. Specimens have also been collected around Te Kuha.

Host plant

The larvae of ''A. dissimilis'' has been shown to feed on species of ''

Dracophyllum ''Dracophyllum'' is a genus of plants belonging to the family Ericaceae, formerly Epacridaceae. There are 61 species in the genus, mostly shrubs, but also cushion plants and trees, found in New Zealand, Australia, Lord Howe Island and New Caledon ...

''.

References

External links

Citizen science observations of species

Specimens held at the Auckland War Memorial Museum
Moths of New Zealand Hydriomenini Moths described in 1914 Endemic fauna of New Zealand Endemic moths of New Zealand {{Larentiinae-stub