Asaphodes dionysias

Asaphodes dionysias is a species of moth in the family Geometridae. This species is endemic to New Zealand and is only known from mountainous areas in Central Otago. It lives in open grassy mountainous habitat at altitudes up to 1750 m. It is also known to live in wetland habitat. The larvae of this species feed on native herbs. The adults of this species are on the wing in January and February. The adult female of the species has reduced wing size in comparison to the male.

Asaphodes dionysias
Male
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Geometridae
Genus: Asaphodes
Species:
A. dionysias
Binomial name
Asaphodes dionysias
(Meyrick, 1907)[1]
Synonyms[2]
  • Xanthorhoe dionysias Meyrick, 1907
  • Larentia dionysias (Meyrick, 1907)

Taxonomy
Old Man Range, type locality of A. dionysias.

This species was described by Edward Meyrick in 1907 as Xanthorhoe dionysias using material collected by J.H. Lewis at the Old Man Range / Kopuwai in Central Otago in February.[2][3] George Hudson discussed and illustrated this species under the name Xanthorhoe dionysias in his 1928 publication The Butterflies and Moths of New Zealand.[4] In 1939 Louis Beethoven Prout placed this species in the genus Larentia.[5] This placement was not accepted by New Zealand taxonomists.[6] In 1971 J. S. Dugdale placed this species in the genus Asaphodes.[7] In 1988 J. S. Dugdale confirmed this placement.[2] The female holotype specimen, collected at Old Man Range, is held at the Natural History Museum, London.[2]

Description
Illustration of male A. ionysias by George Hudson.

Meyrick described the species as follows:

♂︎. 28 mm. Head, palpi, and thorax pale-ochreous tinged with brown-reddish. Forewings somewhat elongate-triangular, costa gently arched, subsinuate in middle, termen rather bowed, oblique, not waved ; pale greyish-ochreous, towards costa suffusedly tinged with reddish- ochreous ; basal area indistinctly striated with dark fuscous irroration ; median band defined anteriorly by two curved similar striae, posteriorly by three curved dark striae enclosing two lines, first pale, second slightly tinged with reddish- ochreous ; within median band are two suffused strife connected by a transverse dark-fuscous discal dot, first obsolete in middle ; terminal area irrorated with dark-fuscous ; an interrupted dark-fuscous terminal line : cilia pale-greyish-ochreous, barred with dark-fuscous irroration. Hindwings elongate, termen rounded, faintly waved ; pale greyish-ochreous, thinly irrorated with grey ; a blackish discal dot ; a cloudy grey postmedian line ; cilia pale greyish-ochreous mixed with grey.[3]

The female of the species is brachypterous.[8]

Distribution

This species is endemic to New Zealand.[1][9] This moth is known only from a limited area which includes The Remarkables, Ben Lomond, Dunstan Mountains, and Old Man Range in Central Otago.[10]

Biology and life cycle

The adults of this species are on the wing in January and February.[4][10]

Habitat and host species

This moth prefers open grassy mountainous habitat at altitudes of up to 1750m.[4][10] It is known to frequent wetland habitat.[10][11] Larvae of this species feed on herbs found in the wet tussock grassland.[8]

References
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Asaphodes dionysias.
  1. "Asaphodes dionysias (Meyrick, 1907)". www.nzor.org.nz. Landcare Research New Zealand Ltd. Retrieved 21 August 2018.
  2. Dugdale, J. S. (1988). "Lepidoptera - annotated catalogue, and keys to family-group taxa" (PDF). Fauna of New Zealand. 14: 173. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 January 2019. Retrieved 21 August 2018.
  3. Meyrick, Edward (1907). "Notes and descriptioins of Lepidoptera". Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute. 39: 106–121 – via Biodiversity Heritage Library.
  4. Hudson, G. V. (1928). The Butterflies and Moths of New Zealand. Wellington: Ferguson & Osborn Ltd. p. 120. OCLC 25449322.
  5. Prout, L. B. (1939). "Geometridae: Fauna Indo-Australica". The Macrolepidoptera of the World. 12: 264 – via Biodiversity Heritage Library.
  6. R. C. Craw (April 1987). "Revision of the genus Helastia sensu stricto with description of a new genus (Lepidoptera: Geometridae: Larentiinae)". New Zealand Journal of Zoology. 14 (2): 269–293. doi:10.1080/03014223.1987.10422997. ISSN 0301-4223. Wikidata Q54670161.
  7. J. S. Dugdale (10 November 1971). "Entomology of the Aucklands and other islands south of New Zealand: Lepidoptera, excluding non-crambine Pyralidae" (PDF). Pacific Insects Monographs. 27: 55–172. ISSN 0078-7515. Wikidata Q64006453.
  8. Barratt, B. I. P.; Patrick, B. H. (1987). "Insects of snow tussock grassland on the East Otago Plateau". New Zealand Entomologist. 10 (1): 69–98. doi:10.1080/00779962.1987.9722513. ISSN 0077-9962.
  9. Gordon, Dennis P., ed. (2010). New Zealand inventory of biodiversity: Kingdom animalia : chaetognatha, ecdysozoa, ichnofossils. Vol. 2. p. 459. ISBN 978-1-877257-93-3. OCLC 973607714. OL 25288394M. Wikidata Q45922947.
  10. Patrick, Brian H.; Lyford, Brian M.; Ward, John B.; Barratt, Barbara I.P. (1992). "Lepidoptera and other insects of the Rastus Burn Basin, The Remarkables, Otago". Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand. 22 (4): 265–278. doi:10.1080/03036758.1992.10420820. ISSN 0303-6758.
  11. Patrick, Brian H. (2014). "Ecology and conservation of the rare moth Asaphodes frivola Meyrick". The Weta. 47: 17–38.
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