Batrachedra tristicta

Batrachedra tristicta is a species of moth in the family Batrachedridae. It is endemic to New Zealand and has been found in both the North and South Islands. The larvae feel on the flowers and seed heads of rushes in the genus Juncus. The adults of this species are on the wing in March.

Batrachedra tristicta
Female lectotype
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Batrachedridae
Genus: Batrachedra
Species:
B. tristicta
Binomial name
Batrachedra tristicta
Synonyms[2]
  • Batrachedra tristictica (Meyrick, 1901)

Taxonomy

This species was first described by Edward Meyrick in 1901 using material collected at Makatoku, in the Hawkes Bay, in March.[3] George Hudson discussed and illustrated this species both in his 1928 publication The Butterflies and Moths of New Zealand and his 1939 supplement to that work.[4][5] The lectotype specimen is held at the Natural History Museum, London.[2]

Description
B. tristicta illustrated by George Hudson.

Meyrick described B. tristicta as follows:

♂︎♀︎. 10-11 m.m. Head, antennae, thorax, abdomen, and legs fuscous-whitish. Palpi whitish, second joint with short scale-projection, subbasal and subapical spots of second joint, and basal and subapical spots of terminal dark fuscous. Fore wings whitish, irrorated with fuscous and sprinkled with dark fuscous ; first and second discal stigmata elongate, black, first somewhat before middle ; a round black apical dot : cilia very pale whitish-fuscous. Hind-wings grey ; cilia pale whitish-fuscous.[3]

Distribution

This species is endemic to New Zealand.[1][6] Along with the type locality in the Hawkes Bay, this species has also been collected in Fiordland.[5]

Biology and behaviour
Juncus edgariae

The adults of this species are on the wing in March.[4]

Host species

The larvae feed on the flowers and seed heads of rushes, including wīwī (Juncus edgariae) and the introduced soft rush (Juncus effusus).[7][8][9]

References
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Batrachedra tristicta.
  1. "Batrachedra tristicta Meyrick, 1901". www.nzor.org.nz. Landcare Research New Zealand Ltd. Retrieved 2017-01-20.
  2. Dugdale, J. S. (1988). "Lepidoptera - annotated catalogue, and keys to family-group taxa" (PDF). Fauna of New Zealand. 14: 1–264. ISBN 0-477-02518-8. ISSN 0111-5383. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2019-01-27. Retrieved 2017-01-20 – via Landcare Research New Zealand Ltd.
  3. Meyrick, Edward (1901). "XVII. Descriptions of New Lepidoptera from New Zealand". Transactions of the Royal Entomological Society of London. 49 (4): 565–580. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2311.1901.tb01373.x. ISSN 1365-2311 – via Biodiversity Heritage Library.
  4. Hudson, G. V. (1928). The Butterflies and Moths of New Zealand. Wellington: Ferguson & Osborn Ltd. p. 304. OCLC 25449322.
  5. Hudson, G. V. (1939). A supplement to the butterflies and moths of New Zealand. Wellington: Ferguson & Osborn Ltd. p. 442. OCLC 221041540. Retrieved 9 June 2018.
  6. Gordon, Dennis P., ed. (2010). New Zealand inventory of biodiversity: Kingdom animalia : chaetognatha, ecdysozoa, ichnofossils. Vol. 2. p. 457. ISBN 978-1-877257-93-3. OCLC 973607714. OL 25288394M. Wikidata Q45922947.
  7. "PlantSynz - Invertebrate herbivore biodiversity assessment tool". plant-synz.landcareresearch.co.nz. Retrieved 2018-06-09.
  8. White, E.G. (1991). "The changing abundance of moths in a tussock grassland, 1962-1989, and 50- to 70-year trends" (PDF). New Zealand Journal of Ecology. 15 (1): 5–22.
  9. Macfarlane, R. M.; Johns, P. M.; Patrick, B. H.; Vink, Cor J. (April 1998). Travis Marsh: invertebrate inventory and analysis. hdl:10182/4155.
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