''Izatha walkerae'' is a lichen tuft moth in the family

Oecophoridae Oecophoridae (concealer moths) is a family of small moths in the superfamily Gelechioidea. The phylogeny and systematics of gelechoid moths are still not fully resolved, and the circumscription of the Oecophoridae is strongly affected by this. ...

. 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 ...

. It is classified as "Data Deficient" 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 and etymology

This species was described by Robert J. B. Hoare in 2010. Prior to its formal description this species was referred to as ''Izatha'' sp. "whorled antennae". The species is named in honour of Annette Walker, who captured 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 ...

. The holotype specimen is held at the New Zealand Arthropod Collection.

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 18–20 mm for males. The female has yet to be described. This species is very similar in appearance to '' I. copiosella'' but ''I. walkerae'' can be distinguished by its whorls of long dark

sensilla A sensillum (plural ''sensilla'') is an arthropod sensory organ protruding from the cuticle of exoskeleton, or sometimes lying within or beneath it. Sensilla appear as small hairs or pegs over an individual's body. Inside each sensillum there are ...

on its antennae as well as its distinctive genitalia.

Distribution

This species is endemic to New Zealand. It is known from the north-eastern

South Island The South Island ( , 'the waters of Pounamu, Greenstone') is the largest of the three major islands of New Zealand by surface area, the others being the smaller but more populous North Island and Stewart Island. It is bordered to the north by ...

. Specimens have been collected at Port Underwood Road approximately 4 km south of Curious Cove in

Marlborough Marlborough or the Marlborough may refer to: Places Australia * Marlborough, Queensland * Principality of Marlborough, a short-lived micronation in 1993 * Marlborough Highway, Tasmania; Malborough was an historic name for the place at the sou ...

, and at

Lake Tennyson Lake Tennyson (elevation ) is a glacial high-country lake in Canterbury, New Zealand. The first European settler to see the lake was Frederick Weld in 1853, who also named it. The headwaters of the Waiau Toa / Clarence River are just to the nor ...

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, in the county of Kent, England; it was a county borough until 1974. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. The city has a mild oceanic climat ...

Biology and behaviour

Very little is known of the biology of this species. Adults have been recorded in November and January. This species has been collected with a Malaise trap. It has been hypothesised that this species is active during the day as the eyes of ''I. walkerae'' have a nude

periorbita The periorbita is the area around the orbit. Sometimes it refers specifically to the layer of tissue surrounding the orbit that consists of periosteum The periosteum is a membrane that covers the outer surface of all bones, except at the articu ...

l strip which is correlated with diurnal activity. The host plants of this species are unknown.

Conservation status

This species has been classified as having the "Data Deficient" 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

{{Taxonbar, from=Q6101764 Oecophorinae Moths described in 2010 Endemic moths of New Zealand