''Apoctena taipana'' is a species of

moth Moths are a paraphyletic group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not butterflies, with moths making up the vast majority of the order. There are thought to be approximately 160,000 species of moth, many of w ...

of the family Tortricidae. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

and has been observed in both the North and South Islands. The larvae created a silken tube in which they hide and also use to travel from leaf to leaf. They tunnel into the leaves of their host. Larvae can be found from June to August. Adult moths can be seen on the wing from October to January.

Taxonomy

This species was first described by Cajetan von Felder and Alois Friedrich Rogenhofer in 1875 using a specimen collected in Nelson by T. R. Oxley and named ''Tortrix taipana''. In 1882 Edward Meyrick, thinking he was describing a new species, named this species ''Cacoecia enoplana''. Meyrick synonymised ''C. enoplana'' with ''Tortrix conditana'' in 1911. In 1988 John S. Dugdale discussed this species under the name ''Planotortrix taipana''. Dugdale examined the male genitalia of the type specimen of ''C. enoplana'' and based on this stated it was a synonym of ''Planotortrix taipana''. In 1990 Dugdale placed this species in the genus ''Apoctena''. Dugdale stated that further work was needed on this species as in his view it was possible that ''A. spatiosa'' and ''A. conditana'' were synonymous with ''A. taipana''. The male

holotype A holotype is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism, known to have been used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of several ...

specimen is held at the

Natural History Museum, London The Natural History Museum in London is a museum that exhibits a vast range of specimens from various segments of natural history. It is one of three major museums on Exhibition Road in South Kensington, the others being the Science Museum an ...

Description

The larva of this species are coloured a greenish-yellow and when mature are 25 mm long. When it is ready to pupate the larva joins leaves of its host plant together and then forms its pupa inside. Meyrick described ''C. enoplana,'' the synonym of this species, as follows: This species is similar in appearance to ''A. conditana''.

Distribution

This species is endemic to New Zealand. Other than in the type locality of Nelson, species has been observed in Banks Peninsula, Otago and Invercargill. This species, as currently described, has also been observed in Wellington (as ''C. enoplana'') and in Kuratau, near Lake Tāupo. ''A. taipana'' is regarded as being uncommon.

Habitat

This species inhabits native forest.

Behaviour

The larvae created a silken tube in which they hide and also use to travel from leaf to leaf. They mine the leaves of their host. Larvae can be found from June to August. Adult moths can be seen on the wing from October to January.

Host species

The larval hosts of this species include the fern ''

Pyrrosia eleagnifolia ''Pyrrosia eleagnifolia'', commonly known as the leather-leaf fern, or ota in Māori, is a climbing fern endemic to New Zealand. ''P. eleagnifolia'' has thick, fleshy rounded leaves, and grows both on the ground and as an epiphyte. Name T ...

''.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q13892880 Moths described in 1875 Epitymbiini Moths of New Zealand Endemic moths of New Zealand Taxa named by Baron Cajetan von Felder Taxa named by Alois Friedrich Rogenhofer