''Planotortrix notophaea'', the blacklegged leafroller, is a species of moth in the family Tortricidae. It is endemic to New Zealand. It was also present near

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, but this population is thought to be extinct.

Taxonomy

This species was first described in 1926 by

A. J. Turner Augustus John Turner, (October 12, 1818 – May 14, 1905), known as "A. J. Turner", was an American composer, Bandleader, band leader and music Music school, professor. He was the first director of the Stonewall Brigade Band of Staunton, Vi ...

and named ''Tortrix notophaea''. Turner used a specimen sent to him 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 county in the West Midlands region of England. The ...

that had been reared in New Zealand. It had emerged from a cutting of ''Acacia decurrans'' that had been collecting at

Epping Epping may refer to: Places Australia * Epping, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney ** Epping railway station, Sydney * Electoral district of Epping, the corresponding seat in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly * Epping Forest, Kearns, a he ...

, Sydney. The holotype specimen used for this description is now held at the New Zealand Arthropod Collection. No other specimens have been collected in Australia and as such that population is thought to be extinct. It has been hypothesised that this specimen resulted from the species becoming established in Epping as a result of a commercial nursery near where it was collected. In 1928 George Hudson illustrated this species under the name ''Tortrix excessana''. In 1946 J. T. Salmon, thinking he was describing a new subspecies, named this moth ''Ctenopseutis obliquana distincta.'' The specimen Salmon used for this description was collected by Graham Turbutt on the 23 April 1946 at Great Island and is now held at the Auckland War Memorial Museum. This name was synonymised by John S. Dugdale in 1966 and the species was placed by him within the genus ''

Planotortrix ''Planotortrix'' is a genus of moths belonging to the subfamily Tortricinae of the family Tortricidae. Species *''Planotortrix avicenniae'' Dugdale, 1990 *''Planotortrix excessana'' (Walker, 1863) *''Planotortrix flammea'' (Salmon, 1956) *''Plan ...

''.

Description

The wingspan is 15–18 mm. This species is a brown fuscous colour with antennae that are fuscous white. The abdomen is grey with a lateral black stripe and fuscous coloured legs. There is a diamond-shaped patch in the discal cell of the forewings. This species can be variable in appearance. The larvae of this species have heads that are green with narrow brown stripes, a green body and white lateral stripes as well as black forelegs.

Distribution

This species is endemic to New Zealand. It is found on the Three Kings Islands, the

South Island The South Island, also officially named , is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand in surface area, the other being the smaller but more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman ...

and the

North Island The North Island, also officially named Te Ika-a-Māui, is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, separated from the larger but much less populous South Island by the Cook Strait. The island's area is , making it the world's 14th-largest ...

Habitat and host species

This species prefers coastal to montane forest habitat. The larvae are

polyphagous Feeding is the process by which organisms, typically animals, obtain food. Terminology often uses either the suffixes -vore, -vory, or -vorous from Latin ''vorare'', meaning "to devour", or -phage, -phagy, or -phagous from Greek φαγε ...

, but prefer small-leaved, hard-leaved gymnosperms and dicotyledonous angiosperms. Endemic host species include ''

Aristotelia serrata ''Aristotelia serrata'', commonly known as wineberry or in the Māori language makomako or just mako, is a small tree in the family Elaeocarpaceae, in the genus '' Aristotelia'', found in the North Island, South Island and Stewart Island of New ...

Coprosma grandifolia ''Coprosma autumnalis'' or C. grandifolia according to earlier Colenso authority, (In Māori: kanono or raurēkau) is a native forest shrub of New Zealand. Its widespread in both the North and South Islands, and has the largest leaves of any Ne ...

, Metrosideros excelsa,'' and '' Prumnopitys taxifolia.'' The larvae feed on leaves, buds and stems from a shelter made of foliage webbed together with silk.

Human interactions

''P. notophaea'' is regarded as being a damaging pest of commercial conifer forests. It is listed as a Quarantine Pest when exporting forest goods from New Zealand to other countries.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q14113463 Moths described in 1926 Archipini Moths of New Zealand Endemic fauna of New Zealand Taxa named by Alfred Jefferis Turner Endemic moths of New Zealand