New Zealand Moths and Butterflies (Macro-Lepidoptera)Hudson, G. V. (George Vernon)
Science
New Zealand Moths and Butterflies (Macro-Lepidoptera)
Hudson, G. V. (George Vernon)
Lepidoptera -- New Zealand
The expansion of the wings is about 1½ inches. The fore-wings are dark
grey with bronzy reflections; there is a pale band on the termen, and
several of the transverse lines are indicated by paler colouring, the two
basal ones being often silvery; _the orbicular is partly outlined with
golden-white, and the claviform is wholly filled in with the same
colour_. The hind-wings are yellowish-grey, darker towards the termen.
Mr. Meyrick mentions a variety in which the characteristic golden-white
discal spots on the fore-wings are absent. I have not yet had the good
fortune to see this form, and think it must be a rare one.
The larva has twelve legs; it is much attenuated towards the head; its
colour is pale green, darker on the back; there is a number of wavy white
lines and dots on the larva, as well as a few isolated black dots and
hairs. It feeds on geraniums, mint, bean, Scotch thistle, and many other
garden plants and weeds. Its original food appears to have been the "potato
plant" (_Solarium aviculare_); but now it only occurs on this shrub in
uncultivated localities, where there is no European vegetation.
The pupa is enclosed in a cocoon of white silk, generally situated between
two dead leaves on or near the ground.
The moth first appears about September, and continues abundant until the
end of summer. In Nelson I have seen it in great profusion, hovering over
various flowers in the evening, at which time it also occasionally
endeavours to gain access to beehives. In the same locality I have met with
the young larvæ in the middle of winter, so that there is probably a
continuous succession of broods all the year through in favourable
situations.
This insect is found in Australia, Pacific Islands, Africa, South Asia,
South Europe, and occasionally in the South of England.[22]
Genus 3.--DASYPODIA, Gn.
"Eyes naked. Palpi with terminal joint very slender. Antennæ in male
filiform, hardly pubescent. Thorax and abdomen not crested. Tarsi in male
very much thickened, with dense scales (_teste Guenée_)."--(Meyrick.)
We have one species.
DASYPODIA SELENOPHORA, Gn.
(_Dasypodia selenophora_, Gn., Noct. vii. 175; Meyr., Trans. N. Z. Inst.
xix. 38.)
(Plate VI., fig. 4.)
This large and very handsome insect has occurred at Auckland, Napier, and
Wellington in the North Island, and at Nelson, Richmond, and Christchurch,
in the South Island.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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