Biology:Tmetolophota sulcana

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Short description: Species of moth

Tmetolophota sulcana
Tmetolophota sulcana female.jpg
Female
Tmetolophota sulcana male.jpg
Male
Scientific classification
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Species:
T. sulcana
Binomial name
Tmetolophota sulcana
(Fereday, 1880)
Synonyms
  • Leucania sulcana Fereday, 1880
  • (Fereday 1880) Ichneutica sulcana

Tmetolophota sulcana is a moth of the family Noctuidae. It is endemic to New Zealand.[1]

Taxonomy

It was described by Richard William Fereday in 1880.[2] In 2019 Robert J. B. Hoare undertook a major review of New Zealand noctuids. Hoare, having inspected the type material of this species, placed it within the genus Ichneutica.[3]

Description

Hudson described T. sulcana as follows:

The expansion of the wings is from 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 inches. The fore-wings are light ochreous with the veins white; there is a shaded, brownish, longitudinal streak near the apex, another from the end of the cell to the termen, a stronger streak from the base of the wing to near the tornus, and another along the dorsum; there is a minute black dot near the base above the middle, a slightly larger dot at about one-third, a conspicuous dot between the origins of veins 3 and 4, and a very minute dot on vein 6. Hind-wings dark blackish-grey, cilia paler.[4]

Distribution

T. sulcana are fairly common and are found throughout New Zealand.[5]

Habitat

Adults of this species are on the wing from November to March and prefer native grass, shrub and wetlands as well as native forest.[5]

References

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: New Zealand moths and butterflies (Macro-lepidoptera), by George Vernon Hudson (1898)

Wikidata ☰ Q13624161 entry