''Cryptolechia rhodobapta'' is a

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

Depressariidae Depressariidae is a family of moths. It has formerly been treated as a subfamily of Gelechiidae, but is now recognised as a separate family, comprising about 2,300 species worldwide.Heikkilä, M. ''et al''. 2014: Morphology reinforces proposed mo ...

. 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 ...

Taxonomy

This species was described by

Edward Meyrick Edward Meyrick (25 November 1854, in Ramsbury – 31 March 1938, at Thornhanger, Marlborough) was an English schoolmaster and amateur entomologist. He was an expert on microlepidoptera and some consider him one of the founders of modern m ...

in 1923 using a male specimen collected in

Takapuna Takapuna is a suburb located on the North Shore of Auckland, New Zealand. The suburb is situated at the beginning of a south-east-facing peninsula forming the northern side of the Waitematā Harbour. While very small in terms of population, it ...

, Auckland in January. This species was discussed and illustrated under this name by

George Hudson George Hudson (probably 10 March 1800 – 14 December 1871) was an English railway financier and politician who, because he controlled a significant part of the railway network in the 1840s, became known as "The Railway King"—a title conferr ...

in his 1928 book ''The Butterflies and Moths of New Zealand''. However the placement of this species within the genus ''Cryptolechia'' is in doubt. As a result, this species has also been referred to as ''Cryptolechia'' (s.l.) ''rhodobapta''. The

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

Natural History Museum, London The Natural History Museum in London is a museum that exhibits a vast range of specimens from various segments of natural history. It is one of three major museums on Exhibition Road in South Kensington, the others being the Science Museum ...

Description

The

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

is about 19 mm. The forewings are rosy-lilac-brownish, with the costal edge ferruginous. The stigmata are small, indistinct and dark fuscous, the plical beneath the first discal. There is an obtusely angulated subterminal series of indistinct short interneural dark-fuscous dashes. The hindwings are light grey.

Distribution

This species is endemic to New Zealand.

References

Moths described in 1923 Cryptolechia (moth) Moths of New Zealand Endemic fauna of New Zealand Taxa named by Edward Meyrick Endemic moths of New Zealand {{Cryptolechiinae-stub