Chalastra ochrea

Chalastra ochrea is a moth of the family Geometridae.[1] It is endemic to New Zealand. It has been observed in both the North and South Islands and inhabits native forest. Larvae of C. ochrea feed on the leaves of species in the genus Sophora including Sophora chathamica. Adults are on the wing from February until April. They have been collected via sugar traps.

Chalastra ochrea
Male
Female
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Arthropoda
Class:
Insecta
Order:
Lepidoptera
Family:
Geometridae
Genus:
Chalastra
Species:
C. ochrea
Binomial name
Chalastra ochrea
(Howes, 1911)[1]
Synonyms[2]
  • Selidosema ochrea Howes, 1911
  • Selidosema prototoxa Meyrick, 1919
  • Chalastra prototoxa (Meyrick, 1919)
  • Pseudocoremia ochrea (Howes, 1911)
  • Pseudocoremia prototoxa (Meyrick, 1919)

Taxonomy

It was first described by George Howes in 1911 from specimens collected at Woodhaugh Gardens in Dunedin in February and April and named Selidosema ochrea.[3] In 1919 Edward Meyrick, thinking he was describing a new species, named this species Selidosema prototoxa.[4] George Hudson described and illustrated S. ochrea in his 1928 book The butterflies and moths of New Zealand.[5] In 1988 John S. Dugdale placed this species in the genus Chalastra.[6] He placed this species in that genus as it was included by Meyrick in Selidosema, and had "a reduced, rounded uncus and no spinose process on the disc of the valva".[6] In the same publication Dugdale synonymised Selidosema prototoxa with C. ochrea as he argued that the genitalia were indistinguishable between specimens of S. prototoxa and C. ochrea. He also argued that the specimens in the New Zealand Arthropod Collection showed intergradation of the two colour forms. This placement and synonymising was accepted in the New Zealand Inventory of Biodiversity.[1] The male holotype specimen is held at the Natural History Museum, London.[2]

Description
Female C. ochrea.
Male C. ochrea.

The larvae of this species is brown coloured with distinctive markings.[7]

Hudson described the species as follows:

The expansion of the wings is about 1+1⁄4 inches. The fore-wings are dull brownish-grey mixed with blackish-grey; ther is a small irregular, ochreous basal patch, followed by a slende blackish transverse line, acutely angulated above the middle ; the outer edge of the median band has a very prominent rounded projection slightly above the middle, and the subterminal line has seven sharp dentations; the space between the median band and the subterminal line is bright ochreous. The hind-wings are bright ochreous.[5]

Distribution

This species is endemic to New Zealand.[8] Along with the type locality in Dunedin this species has also been observed in the Canterbury region as well as around the Wairarapa region and in the Central Hawke's Bay District.[5][9]

Habitat

This species inhabits native forest.[10]

Behaviour

The adults of this species have been collected via sugar traps.[3][5] They are on the wing from February until April.[5]

Host plants
Larval host species, S. chathamica.

Larvae of C. ochrea feed on the leaves of species in the genus Sophora including Sophora chathamica.[7][11]

References
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Chalastra ochrea.
  1. 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.
  2. John Stewart Dugdale (23 September 1988). "Lepidoptera - annotated catalogue, and keys to family-group taxa". Fauna of New Zealand. Department of Scientific and Industrial Research. 14: 163. doi:10.7931/J2/FNZ.14. ISSN 0111-5383. Wikidata Q45083134.
  3. George Howes (July 1911). "New species of Lepidoptera". Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute. 43: 127–128. ISSN 1176-6158. Wikidata Q108323953.
  4. Edward Meyrick (1919). "Descriptions of New Zealand Lepidoptera". Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute. 51: 350–351. ISSN 1176-6158. Wikidata Q110189623.
  5. George Vernon Hudson (1928), The butterflies and moths of New Zealand, Illustrator: George Hudson, Wellington, p. 142, LCCN 88133764, OCLC 25449322, Wikidata Q58593286{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  6. John Stewart Dugdale (23 September 1988). "Lepidoptera - annotated catalogue, and keys to family-group taxa". Fauna of New Zealand. Department of Scientific and Industrial Research. 14: 163. doi:10.7931/J2/FNZ.14. ISSN 0111-5383. Wikidata Q45083134.
  7. "Chalastra ochrea (Howes, 1911)". plant-synz.landcareresearch.co.nz. Retrieved 2018-07-10.
  8. "Chalastra ochrea (Howes, 1911) - Biota of NZ". biotanz.landcareresearch.co.nz. Retrieved 2022-11-14.
  9. "McLeans Island: invertebrate inventory and analysis" (PDF). coastalrestorationtrust.org.nz. February 1999. Retrieved 14 November 2022.
  10. Brian H. Patrick (1994), Coastal butterflies and moths of Wellington and South Wairarapa. (PDF), Wikidata Q110426707, archived from the original (PDF) on 13 December 2021
  11. Consequences to threatened plants and insects of fragmentation of Southland floodplain forests (PDF). S. Walker, New Zealand. Department of Conservation. Wellington, N.Z.: Dept. of Conservation. 2006. ISBN 0-478-14070-3. OCLC 68747822.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
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