''Mnesictena antipodea'' is a

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 ...

in the family Crambidae. It was described by John T. Salmon in 1956. This species 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 ...

, where it has been recorded from the Antipodes Islands. The

wingspan The wingspan (or just span) of a bird or an airplane is the distance from one wingtip to the other wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777–200 has a wingspan of , and a wandering albatross (''Diomedea exulans'') caught in 1965 had a wingspan of ...

is about 24 mm. The forewings are pale yellowish white speckled with bright orange scales. The first line is brown and a broad area of pale orange-brown is found along the dorsum between the first and second lines. The second line is slightly darker brown than the first. The hindwings are white with scattered brown scales.

References

Moths described in 1956 antipodea Moths of New Zealand Endemic fauna of New Zealand Endemic moths of New Zealand {{Spilomelinae-stub