Mnesictena Notata
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''Mnesictena notata'' 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 Arthur Gardiner Butler in 1879. It is endemic to
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 ...
.


Taxonomy

This species was first described by Arthur Gardiner Butler in 1879 and named ''Scopula notata''. In 1988 J. S. Dugdale discussed this species under the name ''Mnesictena notata''. In 2010 the publication ''The New Zealand Inventory of Biodiversity'' placed this species in the genus ''Udea''. However this placement was brought into doubt by the work of Richard Mally and Matthias Nuss.


Description

The forewings are reddish clay coloured, slightly sericeous (silky). The discoidal area is dusky and there is a black-edged white rhomboidal spot at the end of the cell, as well as a grey discal line, arched beyond the cell and with a zigzag course from the first median branch to the inner margin. The hindwings are pale creamy ochreous, speckled at the apex and on the basal area with grey scales. Two black spots are placed obliquely at the end of the cell and there is a marginal series of black dots.


References

notata Moths described in 1879 Moths of New Zealand Endemic fauna of New Zealand Taxa named by Arthur Gardiner Butler Endemic moths of New Zealand {{Spilomelinae-stub