''Stigmella laqueorum'' is a species of

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. 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 only been found on Snares Islands / Tini Heke. The egg is laid on the underside leaf. Larvae are leaf miners. There may be up to 20 mines per leaf. Larvae are present in all months. The cocoon is attached to fallen large debris or trunk bases. Adults have been recorded on the wing from late November to February. They are diurnal, flying only in the morning. This species is classified as "At Risk, Naturally Uncommon" by the

Department of Conservation An environmental ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for the environment and/or natural resources. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of the Environment, ...

Taxonomy

This species was originally described by John S. Dugdale under the name ''Nepticula laquaeorum''. In 1988 Dugdale noted that the epithet ''laquaeorum'' was inadmissible and amended it to the spelling of ''laqueorum''. He also placed the species within the genus ''

Stigmella ''Stigmella'' is a genus name that may refer to: * ''Stigmella'' (moth), a genus of moths in the family Nepticulidae * ''Stigmella'' (fungus), a plant pathogenic ascomycete Ascomycota is a phylum of the kingdom Fungi that, together with the ...

''. The taxonomy of this species was also studied by Hans Donner and Christopher Wilkinson in 1989 who also used the epithet ''laqueorum''. The

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 at the New Zealand Arthropod Collection.

Description

The larvae of this species are up to 6 mm long and pale green. The adult moths have a forewing length of between 3–4 mm. This species is similar in appearance to its close relative '' Stigmella fulva.'' However it can be distinguished from that species as ''S. laqueorum'' has basally black costa and has no linear black scale marks on the discal cell area. ''S. laqueorum'' is also smaller and has more obvious wing markings than ''S. fulva''.

Distribution

This species is endemic to New Zealand. It can only be found on Snares Islands / Tini Heke.

Host species

The larvae feed on '' Olearia lyallii''.

Conservation status

This species has been classified as having the "At Risk, Naturally Uncommon" 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 some ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q7616709 Nepticulidae Moths described in 1971 Endangered biota of New Zealand Endemic moths of New Zealand