''Tinea accusatrix'' 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 first 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 1916. However the placement of this species within the genus ''Tinea'' is in doubt. As a result, this species has been referred to as ''Tinea'' (s.l.) ''accusatrix''. 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 ...

to New Zealand.

Description

The

wingspan The wingspan (or just span) of a bird or an airplane is the distance from one wingtip to the opposite wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777–200 has a wingspan of , and a wandering albatross (''Diomedea exulans'') caught in 1965 had a wingsp ...

is 8–10 mm. The forewings are dark fuscous with a short fine white median longitudinal line from the base and oblique white streaks from the costa at one-fourth and the middle reaching more than half across the wing, and shorter oblique marks from the dorsum opposite. There are seven white wedge-shaped marks from the costa on the posterior half, anteriorly somewhat oblique, posteriorly direct, one from the tornus and a dot on the termen beneath the apex, the space between these with violet and bronzy reflections. There is also a round deep black spot at the apex. The hindwings are light grey, with bronzy and purple reflections.

References

External links

Image of type specimen of ''Tinea'' s.l. ''accusatrix''.
Moths described in 1916 Tineinae Moths of New Zealand Endemic fauna of New Zealand Taxa named by Edward Meyrick Endemic moths of New Zealand {{Tineidae-stub