''Platyptilia campsiptera'' is a species of

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 Pterophoridae. 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 ...

. This species has been classified as Nationally Vulnerable by the

Department of Conservation An environmental ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for the environment and/or natural resources. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of the Environment ...

Taxonomy

''P. campsiptera'' was first described by Edward Meyrick in 1907 from a specimen collected by

George Vernon Hudson George Vernon Hudson FRSNZ (20 April 1867 – 5 April 1946) was a British-born New Zealand entomologist credited with proposing the modern daylight saving time. He was awarded the Hector Memorial Medal in 1923. Biography Born in London, Brit ...

in the

Humboldt Range The Humboldt Range is a largely north-south running range of mountains in northwest Nevada, USA, that extend from the town of Imlay in the north to the junction with the West Humboldt Range in the south. It is bordered continuously by Interst ...

at approximately 1100m. In 1928 Hudson also described and illustrated the species. The male

holotype A holotype is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism, known to have been used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of several ...

is held at the

Natural History Museum, London The Natural History Museum in London is a museum that exhibits a vast range of specimens from various segments of natural history. It is one of three major museums on Exhibition Road in South Kensington, the others being the Science Museum an ...

Description

Meyrick described the species as follows: Hudson noted that when resting ''P. campsiptera'' holds its forewing second digit downwards and almost at right angles to the first digit.

Distribution

It is endemic to New Zealand. As well as at its type locality, the species has been collected at Ben Lomond,

Andersons Bay Andersons Bay (sometimes spelt in the grammatically correct former form Anderson's Bay, and often known locally simply as "Andy Bay") is a suburb of the New Zealand city of Dunedin. It is located in the southeast of the city's urban area, sout ...

and

Colac Bay Colac Bay / Ōraka is a small township situated on the bay of the same name facing Foveaux Strait, and located on the Southern Scenic Route, 10 minutes from Riverton, New Zealand. Surrounding areas include Longwood, Tihaka, Waipango, Round Hill ...

. It has also been collected at

McKinnon Pass , photo = Milford Track Mackinnon Pass.jpg , photo_size = 270px , photo_alt = , photo_caption = Looking up the Clinton River valley to Omanui / McKinnon Pass , map = New Zealand Fiordland , map ...

Conservation status

This species has the "Nationally Vulnerable" conservation status under the

New Zealand Threat Classification System The New Zealand Threat Classification System is used by the Department of Conservation to assess conservation priorities of species in New Zealand. The system was developed because the IUCN Red List, a similar conservation status system, had some ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q7202719 Moths described in 1907 Platyptilia Endangered biota of New Zealand Taxa named by Edward Meyrick Endemic moths of New Zealand