''Orocrambus enchophorus'' 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 Edward Meyrick in 1885. 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 ...

. It has been recorded from the

South Island The South Island, also officially named , is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand in surface area, the other being the smaller but more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman ...

and

North Island The North Island, also officially named Te Ika-a-Māui, is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, separated from the larger but much less populous South Island by the Cook Strait. The island's area is , making it the world's 14th-largest ...

. The lives in lowland to alpine grassland habitat.

Description

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 24–40 mm. Adults have been recorded on wing from November to February. The larvae feed on '' Poa annua'', ''

Poa cita ''Poa cita'', commonly known as the silver tussock, or wī, which is also the Māori name, is a grass of the family Poaceae that is native to New Zealand. ''Poa cita'' was described and named by Elizabeth Edgar in 1986, having previously being nam ...

'' (formerly ''Poa caespitosa''), ''

Agrostis tenuis ''Agrostis capillaris'', the common bent, colonial bent, or browntop, is a rhizomatous and stoloniferous perennial in the grass family ( Poaceae). It is native to Eurasia and has been widely introduced in many parts of the world. Colonial be ...

'', ''

Bromus catharticus ''Bromus catharticus'' is a species of brome grass known by the common names rescuegrass, grazing brome, prairie grass, and Schrader's bromegrass. The specific epithet ''catharticus'' is Latin, meaning cathartic. The common name rescuegrass refer ...

'' and ''

Festuca arundinacea ''Festuca arundinacea'' ( syn., ''Schedonorus arundinaceus'' and ''Lolium arundinaceum'') is a species of grass commonly known as tall fescue. It is a cool-season perennial C3 species of bunchgrass native to Europe. It is an important forage gr ...

''.

References

Crambinae Moths of New Zealand Moths described in 1885 Endemic fauna of New Zealand Taxa named by Edward Meyrick Endemic moths of New Zealand {{Crambinae-stub