Heliostibes vibratrix

Heliostibes vibratrix
Illustration by George Hudson
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Clade: Pancrustacea
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Oecophoridae
Genus: Heliostibes
Species:
H. vibratrix
Binomial name
Heliostibes vibratrix
Meyrick, 1927

Heliostibes vibratrix is a species of moth in the family Oecophoridae. It is endemic to New Zealand. This species inhabits open mountainside habitat and is known to feed on Nothofagus truncata. Yellow-crowned parakeets predate the larvae of H. vibratrix.

Taxonomy

This species was described by Edward Meyrick in 1927 using a specimen collected by George Hudson in January at Mount Arthur at 4000 ft. The female holotype specimen is held at the Natural History Museum, London.

Description

Meyrick described the species as follows:

♀ 16 mm. Head and palpi fuscous. Thorax rather darker bronzy-fuscous. Abdomen dark fuscous, ventral surface pale yellow. Forewings suboblong, termen hardly oblique; fuscous, with numerous irregular transverse cloudy dark purplish-fuscous striae; second discal stigma forming a small transverse dark fuscous spot; two slight whitish marks on dorsum about middle: cilia fuscous. Hindwings blackish-grey; cilia grey, basal third dark fuscous.

Distribution

This species is endemic to New Zealand.

Habitat and host species

Nothofagus truncata, a host species of H. vibratrix.

This species prefers open mountainside habitat. The larvae of this species are known to feed on Nothofagus truncata. Larvae are a predated by the Yellow-crowned parakeet.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Dugdale, John Stewart (1988). "Lepidoptera - annotated catalogue, and keys to family-group taxa". Fauna of New Zealand. 14: 88. doi:10.7931/j2/fnz.14. Wikidata Q45083134.
  2. ↑ "Heliostibes vibratrix Meyrick, 1927". nzinverts.landcareresearch.co.nz. Retrieved 2021-12-11.
  3. 1 2 Meyrick, Edward (1927). "Descriptions of New Zealand Lepidoptera". Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute. 57: 702. ISSN 1176-6158. Wikidata Q109466895.
  4. ↑ "Heliostibes vibratrix Meyrick, 1927". www.nzor.org.nz. Retrieved 2021-11-08.
  5. ↑ Hudson, George Vernon (1928), The butterflies and moths of New Zealand, Illustrator: George Hudson, Wellington: Ferguson and Osborn Limited, p. 307, LCCN 88133764, OCLC 25449322, Wikidata Q58593286
  6. ↑ Wardle, Peter (1991). Vegetation of New Zealand. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. p. 567. ISBN 0-521-25873-1. OCLC 26504843.
  7. ↑ G. P. Hosking; J. A. Hutcheson (1986). "Hard beech (Nothofagus truncata) decline on the Mamaku Plateau, North Island, New Zealand". New Zealand Journal of Botany. 24 (2): 263–269. doi:10.1080/0028825x.1986.10412676. Wikidata Q109478076. {{Cite Q}}: Missing first/last names in Wikidata for G. P. Hosking, J. A. Hutcheson (help)
  8. ↑ Terry C. Greene (1998). "Foraging Ecology of the Red-Crowned Parakeet (Cyanoramphus novaezelandiae novaezelandiae) and Yellow-Crowned Parakeet (C. auriceps auriceps) on Little Barrier Island, Hauraki Gulf, New Zealand". New Zealand Journal of Ecology. 22 (2): 161–171. JSTOR 24054688. Wikidata Q109478236. {{Cite Q}}: Missing first/last names in Wikidata for Terry C. Greene (help)