''Stigmella insignis'' 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 ...

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, incl ...

. 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 ...

and has been observed in the

Hawkes Bay Hawke's Bay ( mi, Te Matau-a-Māui) is a local government region on the east coast of New Zealand's North Island. The region's name derives from Hawke Bay, which was named by Captain James Cook in honour of Admiral Edward Hawke. The region i ...

as well as in the north west of 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 Tasma ...

. ''S. insignis'' inhabits montane to subalpine grasslands. The larvae of ''S. insignis'' 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, the mother clade of wasp ...

s. They likely feed on ''

Celmisia spectabilis ''Celmisia spectabilis'', also known as cotton daisy or by its Māori name puharetaiko, is a mountain daisy in the family Asteraceae, and is endemic to New Zealand, where it is one of the most widespread species in the genus ''Celmisia''. Ta ...

.'' Adults of this species have been observed on the wing in March, November and December.

Taxonomy

This species was first described 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, England, on 15 December 1870. He became the first person to describe ''Zelleria maculata ' ...

in 1927 using three male specimens he collected at Salisbury's Opening on the Mount Arthur Tableland at 4,000 ft. in November. Philpott originally named the species ''Nepticula insignis''. In 1939

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 ...

discussed and illustrated this species under that name in his book ''A supplement to the butterflies and moths of New Zealand''. In 1988

J. S. Dugdale ''J. The Jewish News of Northern California'', formerly known as ''Jweekly'', is a weekly print newspaper in Northern California, with its online edition updated daily. It is owned and operated by San Francisco Jewish Community Publications In ...

placed this species in the genus ''Stigmella''. This placement was confirmed by Hans Donner and Christopher Wilkinson in 1989. The male

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 in 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.http://biocol.org/institutional-collection/new-zealand-arthropod-collection It specialises i ...

Description

Philpott described this species as follows: Donner and Wilkinson described the male of the species as follows: The female is visually similar to the male with the exception of their antenna which have 28 segments. ''S. insignis'' is larger than the similar species '' S. oriastra'' and lacks the orange forewing scales of '' S. laqueorum''.

Distribution

This species is endemic to New Zealand. This species has been observed in the Hawkes Bay as well as in the north west of the South Island.

Behaviour

Adults have been recorded in March, November and December.

Habitat and hosts

Celmisia spectabilis spectabilis 300696006

''S. insignis'' inhabits montane to subalpine grasslands. The larvae probably feed on ''

''. J. S. Dugdale stated he collected specimens on the rosettes of ''C. spectabilis''. They

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 ...

the leaves of their host plant.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q7616680 Nepticulidae Moths of New Zealand Endemic fauna of New Zealand Taxa named by Alfred Philpott Moths described in 1927 Endemic moths of New Zealand