''Stigmella erysibodea'' is a species of

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

Nepticulidae Nepticulidae is a family of very small moths with a worldwide distribution. They are characterised by eyecaps over the eyes (see also Opostegidae, Bucculatricidae, Lyonetiidae). These pigmy moths or midget moths, as they are commonly known, inc ...

. 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 ...

and has been observed in both the North and South Islands. The larvae of this species are

leaf miner A leaf miner is any one of numerous species of insects in which the larval stage lives in, and eats, the leaf tissue of plants. The vast majority of leaf-mining insects are moths (Lepidoptera), sawflies (Symphyta, a paraphyletic group which ...

s and feed on the leaves of ''

Olearia ilicifolia ''Olearia ilicifolia'' is a shrub or small tree endemism, endemic to New Zealand. Common names include: Māori-holly, mountain holly, ''hakeke'' or ''hākēkeke'' and New Zealand holly. It is a spreading shrub or small tree of the family Asterac ...

'' and ''

Olearia albida ''Olearia albida'', also known by the name tanguru or tree daisy, is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae. The plant was first described by Joseph Dalton Hooker in 1864, and is endemic to the northern North Island of New Zealan ...

.'' Adults have been observed on the wing in November and February.

Taxonomy

This species was first described in 1989 by Hans Donner and Christopher Wilkinson from specimens collected in the

Taupō Taupō (), sometimes written Taupo, is a town located in the central North Island of New Zealand. It is situated on the edge of Lake Taupō, which is the largest freshwater lake in New Zealand. Taupō was constituted as a borough in 1953. It h ...

Taranaki Taranaki is a regions of New Zealand, region in the west of New Zealand's North Island. It is named after its main geographical feature, the stratovolcano Mount Taranaki, Taranaki Maunga, formerly known as Mount Egmont. The main centre is the ...

and

Fiordland Fiordland (, "The Pit of Tattooing", and also translated as "the Shadowlands"), is a non-administrative geographical region of New Zealand in the south-western corner of the South Island, comprising the western third of Southland. Most of F ...

regions. 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, collected at Lyttle's Flat,

Hollyford Valley Hollyford Valley is a valley in Fiordland, New Zealand, in the southwest of the South Island. It is named for the Hollyford River, which runs north-north-west along its length from the Southern Alps (New Zealand), Southern Alps to the Tasman Sea ...

on the 3 February 1976 "on ''

''" by J. S. Dugdaleis, is held at the

New Zealand Arthropod Collection The New Zealand Arthropod Collection is a collection of terrestrial invertebrates held by Maanaki Whenua – Landcare Research in Auckland, New Zealand. It specialises in the taxonomy and identification of indigenous and exotic invertebrate sp ...

Description

Donner and Wilkinson described the adult male of this species as follows: Donner and Wilkinson also described the female of the species as follows: ''S. erysibodea'' is similar in appearance to '' S. atrata'', however it is smaller in size.

Distribution

''S. erysibodea'' is endemic to New Zealand. It has been observed in both the North and South Islands.

Behaviour

The larvae

mine Mine, mines, miners or mining may refer to: Extraction or digging *Miner, a person engaged in mining or digging *Mining, extraction of mineral resources from the ground through a mine Grammar *Mine, a first-person English possessive pronoun M ...

the leaves of their host plants. Adults have been observed on the wing in November and February.

Host

The larvae have been shown to feed on ''

'', a species that is endemic to New Zealand, and also ''

'', a south-eastern Australian species cultivated in New Zealand, as the moth has been successfully reared from both these plants''.''

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q7616622 Nepticulidae Moths of New Zealand Endemic fauna of New Zealand Moths described in 1989 Endemic moths of New Zealand