''Idioglossa metallochrysa'' is a very small species of golden-metallic coloured moth of the family Batrachedridae living in a subtropical highland climate, at least in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, and of which the caterpillars feed on the plant ''

Cheilocostus speciosus ''Cheilocostus speciosus'', or crêpe ginger, is a species of flowering plant in the family Costaceae. Some botanists have now revived the synonym '' Hellenia speciosa'' for this species. It is native to southeast Asia and surrounding regions ...

'', at least in Indonesia.

Taxonomy

It was first described by

Alfred Jefferis Turner Alfred Jefferis Turner (3 October 1861, in Canton – 29 December 1947, in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia) was a pediatrician and noted amateur entomologist. He was the son of missionary Frederick Storrs-Turner. He introduced the use of dip ...

in 1917 from three specimens collected in November on

Tamborine Mountain Tamborine Mountain is a plateau and locality in the Scenic Rim Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , Tamborine Mountain had a population of 7,506 people. Geography The plateau is a , . The name is from the of Yugumbir language of the Wanger ...

in Queensland, Australia. They were apparently all female. There are three syntypes, two are kept at

Australian National Insect Collection The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) is an Australian Government agency responsible for scientific research. CSIRO works with leading organisations around the world. From its headquarters in Canberra, CSIRO ...

, and one at the Natural History Museum, London, courtesy of Edward Meyrick. The Australian entomologist

Ian Francis Bell Common Ian or Iain is a name of Scottish Gaelic origin, derived from the Hebrew given name (Yohanan, ') and corresponding to the English name John. The spelling Ian is an Anglicization of the Scottish Gaelic forename ''Iain''. It is a popular name in Sc ...

classified it in the

subfamily In biological classification, a subfamily (Latin: ', plural ') is an auxiliary (intermediate) taxonomic rank, next below family but more inclusive than genus. Standard nomenclature rules end subfamily botanical names with "-oideae", and zoologi ...

Stathmopodinae Stathmopodidae is a family of moths in the moth superfamily Gelechioidea described by Edward Meyrick in 1913. Taxonomy and systematics *'' Actinoscelis'' Meyrick, 1912 *'' Aeoloscelis'' Meyrick, 1897 *'' Arauzona'' Walker, 865/small> *'' Atrijug ...

of the family Oecophoridae in 1996. It was reclassified in the subfamily Batrachedrinae of the Batrachedridae by

Kazuhiro Sugisima Kazuhiro is a masculine Japanese given name. Notable people with the name include: *Kazuhiro Fujita, Japanese manga artist *Kazuhiro Furuhashi, Japanese anime director and supervisor *Kazuhiro Hamanaka, professional mixed martial arts (MMA) fighte ...

in 2000, based on more detailed examination of the genitalia.

Etymology

In the original description, Jefferis Turner derives the

specific epithet In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

from the word ''μεταλλοχρυσος'', which he states signifies 'golden-metallic'.

Description

The wingspan is only 9–10 mm. The head, antenna and palpi, and the legs, are whitish. The thorax and the rest of the body is

ochreous Ochre ( ; , ), or ocher in American English, is a natural clay earth pigment, a mixture of ferric oxide and varying amounts of clay and sand. It ranges in colour from yellow to deep orange or brown. It is also the name of the colours produce ...

-whitish. The fore-wings are also ochreous-whitish, but with a suffused fuscous spot under the costa, an "ochreous suffusion between it and dorsum", and some golden-metallic scales in a line from three-fourths of the costa to the termen beneath the middle. The both pairs of wings have long hairs coming off them, which Jefferis Turner terms cilia in his description, in the fore-wing these are ochreous coloured, dorsally grey, whereas in the hind-wing they are "grey-whitish". The hind-wings are ochreous, but with four transverse "golden-metallic" bands across them, the last one of which is broader than the others, and edged at the end of the wing with fuscous.

Distribution

It is known from Kuranda in Queensland,

, but has also been found on the island of Java, Indonesia.

Ecology

The locality it was collected,

, has a cool subtropical highland climate, with the annual rainfall of about 1,550 mm. The imagoes (adult moths) are known to be active in November, based on when they were first collected, which is at the beginning of the warmer rainy season. In Java, ''

'' has been recorded as a host plant for the caterpillars of this species,HOSTS - a Database of the World's Lepidopteran Hostplants
/ref> This is a mid-sized, herbaceous, ginger-like plant from the tropical forest understory in the Costaceae family.

List of moths of Australia Australian moths represent between 20,000 and 30,000 different types of moths. In comparison, there are only 400 species of Australian butterflies. The moths (mostly nocturnal) and butterflies (mostly diurnal) together make up the taxonomic ord ...

References

Moths described in 1917 Batrachedridae {{Batrachedridae-stub