''Orocrambus cultus'' 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 The Crambidae are the grass moth family of lepidopterans. They are variable in appearance, the nominal subfamily Crambinae (grass moths) taking up closely folded postures on grass stems where they are inconspicuous, while other subfamilies includ ...

. It was first described by

Alfred Philpott Alfred Philpott (15 December 1870 – 24 July 1930) was a New Zealand museum curator, entomologist and writer. He was born in Tysoe, Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The ...

in 1917 from specimens collected by

Merlin Owen Pasco Merlin Owen Pasco (1892 – 6 August 1918) was a New Zealand Entomology, entomologist. Pasco discovered several species of moth previously unknown to science and collected numerous specimens. Early life and collecting Pasco was born in Kumara ...

. 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 ...

, where it is known from

Cecil Peak Cecil Peak is a mountain in the Wakatipu Basin, New Zealand and reaches a height of 1,978 metres. It is on the south side of Lake Wakatipu south-southwest of Queenstown, and is highly prominent from around this area. Vegetation is mainly gras ...

. 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 20 mm. The forewings are deep yellowish brown with dusky black markings on the costa and dorsum. Adults have been recorded on wing in January.

References

Crambinae Moths described in 1917 Endemic fauna of New Zealand Moths of New Zealand Endemic moths of New Zealand {{Crambinae-stub