Stigmella kaimanua

This species was first described in 1989 by Hans Donner and Christopher Wilkinson from specimens collected in Fiordland, Otago and Southland.[3] The male holotype specimen, collected at Woodhaugh, Dunedin on 5 November 1982 by B.H. Patrick, is held in the New Zealand Arthropod Collection.[3]

The larvae of S. kaimanua are 3–4 mm long and whitish yellow.[3]

Donner and Wilkinson described the male of this species as follows:

Head. Frontal tuft pale brown; scape white; collar grey; antenna brown-grey, with about 30 segments. Thorax brown. Forewing about 3 millimetres (0.12 in). long, grey-brown in various shades, with 3 black spots - antemedial, medial, and apical; a blackish-brown area basally, near costa; fringe grey. Hindwing silvery grey; cilia concolorous. Abdomen brown-grey.[3]

The female of the species is similar appearance to the male but has larger and darker forewings and antenna with 24 segments.[3]

This species is endemic to New Zealand.[1][4] S. kaimanua has been observed in the mid to southern parts of the South Island.[3][5]

Larvae mine the leaves of their host plant. The mine is linear and situated in either the upper or lower mesophyll layer of the leaf tissue, often near the midrib. The gallery continues down the stem for a short distance. Larvae have been recorded from April to August. The cocoon is probably attached to leaf litter on the ground under their host plant. Adults have been recorded in November and December. There is one generation per year.[3] Adults are attracted to light.[5]

Leaves of the larval host P. heterophylla.

S. kaimanua inhabits lowland and lower montane forest.[3] The larvae feed on Parsonsia heterophylla.[6][7]