Pseudocoremia lupinata

This species was first described by Baron Cajetan von Felder, Rudolf Felder and Alois Friedrich Rogenhofer in 1875 using a specimen collected in Nelson by T. R. Oxley and named Cidaria lupinata.[4] Edward Meyrick in 1883 placed this species within the genus Pseudocoremia.[5] He confirmed this placement in 1884.[6] In 1898 George Hudson, thinking he was describing a new species, named this species Selidosema humilima.[7] In 1909 Meyrick placed synonymised Selidosema humilima with Selidosema lupinata.[8] Hudson discussed and illustrated this species under the name Selidosema lipinata in his 1928 book The butterflies and moths of New Zealand.[9] In 1988 J. S. Dugdale discussed this species under the name Pseudocoremia lupinata.[2] The male holotype is held at the Natural History Museum, London.[2]

D. E. Gaskin described the egg of this species as follows:

The egg is covered with hexagonal depressions. It is oval, and pale green when first laid.[10]

Gaskin described the larva of this species as follows:

The freshly emerged caterpillar is yellow. When fully grown it is about an inch and a quarter long and dark rather dull yellow with brownish mottling and darker brown markings. There are also a number of green markings on the back and sides.There are a few short black hairs.[10]

George Hudson described the adult of the species as follows:

The expansion of the wings is from 1+1⁄4 to 1+3⁄8 inches. The fore-wings are pale dull pinkish-brown; there are three short oblique dark brown stripes on the costa, inclined very much towards the termen; the first of these stripes is distinctly double, and the second and third partially so; there is an indistinct brown mark just below the apex, several slender faint streaks on the veins near the middle of the wing, and a very distinct brown shading on the dorsum. The hind-wings are very pale ochreous. In the female the sub-apical marking is darker and both fore- and hind-wings are more or less sprinkled with brown.[9]

This species is endemic to New Zealand.[1] It can be found in both the North and South Islands from Auckland to Invercargill.[10]

Favoured habitat and larval host Kunzea ericoides.

This species inhabits native forest including Kānuka scrubland.[11][12]

The egg takes about two to three weeks to hatch.[10] The larva feeds at night and remains unmoving during the day.[10] This species pupates at ground level.[10][13] The adult moths are said to be on the wing from December to June.[9] However D. E. Gaskin hypothesised that there are two distinct generations of this moth a year.[10] The adult moth is nocturnal and is attracted to light.[10]

The larval plant hosts include species in the genus Kunzea.[14][15]