''Sagephora felix'' is a

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

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

Tineidae Tineidae is a family of moths in the order Lepidoptera described by Pierre André Latreille in 1810. Collectively, they are known as fungus moths or tineid moths. The family contains considerably more than 3,000 species in more than 300 genera. ...

. It was described by

Edward Meyrick Edward Meyrick (25 November 1854 – 31 March 1938) was an English schoolmaster and amateur entomologist. He was an expert on microlepidoptera and some consider him one of the founders of modern microlepidoptera systematics. Life and work Ed ...

in 1914. 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 ...

and can be found in the north half of the North Island. It inhabits native forest and adults of the species are on the wing from December to May, in July and November.

Taxonomy

This species was first described by Edward Meyrick in 1914, using a specimen collected by George Hudson at

Kaeo Kaeo (Māori: ''Kāeo'') is a township in the Far North District of New Zealand, located some northwest of Kerikeri. The town's name comes from the Māori-language name of the New Zealand freshwater mussel, which is found in nearby rivers. Sa ...

in January, and named ''Sagephora felix''. In 1928

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 Mania, railway network in the 1840s, became known as "The Railway King"—a ...

discussed and illustrated this species using that name. The male

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 is held in 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 (Lo ...

Description

This species was described by Meyrick as follows:

Distribution

This species is endemic to New Zealand. This species has been collected at its type locality Kaeo, as well as at

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

and

Wellington Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...

Habitat

This species inhabits native forest.

Behaviour

The adults of this species are on the wing December to May, July and November.

References

External links

Image of type specimen of ''Sagephora felix''.
{{Taxonbar, from=Q13483227 Moths described in 1914 Tineidae Moths of New Zealand Endemic fauna of New Zealand Taxa named by Edward Meyrick Endemic moths of New Zealand