''Agathiphaga vitiensis'', or the Fiji kauri moth,
is a
moth of the family
Agathiphagidae
''Agathiphaga'' is a genus of moths, known as kauri moths. It is the only living in the family Agathiphagidae. This caddisfly-like lineage of primitive moths was first reported by Lionel Jack Dumbleton in 1952, as a new genus of Micropterigidae ...
. It is found from
Fiji
Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists ...
to
Vanuatu and
Solomon Islands.
Description
The length of the forewings is about 4 mm. The forewings are long, dorsally dark greyish-brown with fine white hairs, a light yellowish-brown patch on the anal area and a smaller patch of similar colour on the posterior margin.
The larvae feed on ''
Agathis vitiensis
''Agathis macrophylla'' (also '' Agathis silbae'') known as Pacific kauri, is a coniferous tree native to the islands of the southwestern Pacific Ocean in tropical humid lowlands and lower montane regions, notably in Fiji, Vanuatu, the Santa C ...
''. The full-grown larva is about 6 mm long and 2.5 mm wide. It is stoutly built and not flattened. They are yellowish in colour.
Sensilla Morphology
''A. vitiensis'', like its relative ''
A. queenslandensis'', possesses ten different types of
sensilla
A sensillum (plural ''sensilla'') is an arthropod sensory organ protruding from the cuticle of exoskeleton, or sometimes lying within or beneath it. Sensilla appear as small hairs or pegs over an individual's body. Inside each sensillum there are ...
, which include: Bohm’s bristles, Chaetica I and II, Squamiformia, Trichodea, Biforked basiconica, short basiconica, and Coeloconica I, II, and III. Both sexes of A. vitiensis possess all ten types of these sensilla, and the size of each is relatively similar in size with the exception of Chaetica I (longer in females by an average of 12.8 µm) and Trichodea (longer in males by an average of 7.8 µm).
References
External links
*
Agathiphagidae
Taxa named by Lionel Jack Dumbleton
Moths described in 1952
Moths of Oceania
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