Kiwaia pumila

This species was described by Alfred Philpott in 1928 and named Gelechia pumila.[2] Philpott used specimens collected by Stuart Lindsay in Yaldhurst in May.[3] George Vernon Hudson discussed and illustrated the species in 1939.[4] In 1987 Klaus Siegfried Oskar Sattler placed this species in the genus Kiwaia.[5] The type specimen is held at the Canterbury Museum.[6]

Philpott described the species as follows:

Male. 10-12mm. Head and palpi white, second segment of palpi sprinkled with fuscous. Antennae fuscous. Thorax white, tegulae more or less infuscated. Abdomen greyish white, basal segments brassy. Legs greyish fuscous, anterior tarsi obscurely annulated with whitish. Forewings elongate, apex acute, termen very oblique ; white, irrorated, especially on costal half, with pale ochreous ; some dull ochreous scales on apical half ; a blackish fuscous median stripe from base to apex, irregular on margins and sometimes almost interrupted ; fringes ochreous white with a few fuscous scales round apex. Hind wings with apex acute, termen moderately sinuate ; shining white ; fringes ochreous white.[3]

K. pumila is endemic to New Zealand.[2][7] Its range covers Marlborough, Mackenzie country and mid Canterbury.[8] As well as the type locality of Yaldhurst, specimens have been collected at Clarence Bridge and Lake Pukaki,[4] as well as on McLeans Island in Christchurch.[9]

Adult moths are on the wing in March.[4] The species is associated with damp patches in grass habitat.[9]

The host plant for this species is unknown.[8]

This species has the "Nationally Vulnerable" conservation status under the New Zealand Threat Classification System.[1]