''Plutella polaris'' 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 ...

species in the family

Plutellidae The Plutellidae are a family of moths commonly known as the diamondback moths, named after the diamondback moth (''Plutella xylostella'') of European origin. It was once considered to have three subfamilies: Plutellinae, Praydinae, and Scythropi ...

and was first described by Philipp Christoph Zeller in 1880. It is known to occur in

Svalbard Svalbard ( , ), also known as Spitsbergen, or Spitzbergen, is a Norwegian archipelago in the Arctic Ocean. North of mainland Europe, it is about midway between the northern coast of Norway and the North Pole. The islands of the group range ...

, Norway, and the

Altai Mountains The Altai Mountains (), also spelled Altay Mountains, are a mountain range in Central Asia, Central and East Asia, where Russia, China, Mongolia and Kazakhstan converge, and where the rivers Irtysh and Ob River, Ob have their headwaters. The m ...

of Russia.

Formal description

''Plutella polaris'' was described by Philipp Christoph Zeller in 1880 from specimens collected by

Alfred Edwin Eaton Alfred Edwin Eaton (1845 - 1929) was an English clergyman and entomologist. He served as the vicar of Shepton Montague in Somerset. His main interests among insects were the Diptera Flies are insects of the order Diptera, the name being de ...

at Svalbard in July 1873. The species was not recorded again until the collection of a single specimen at the

Indre Wijdefjorden National Park Indre Wijdefjorden National Park ( no, Indre Wijdefjorden nasjonalpark) is located in a steep fjord landscape in northern Spitsbergen in Svalbard, Norway. It covers the inner part of Wijdefjorden—the longest fjord on Svalbard. The national ...

of Svalbard in July 2015, which is the first female specimen described.

Distribution

''P. polaris'' is one of three known resident Lepidoptera species of Svalbard, alongside ''

Apamea exulis ''Apamea zeta'' is a moth of the family Noctuidae. It has a Holarctic distribution, and can be found throughout the Northern Hemisphere. It occurs throughout Europe and the northern half of North America.Pyla fusca ''Pyla fusca'' is a snout moth of the subfamily Phycitinae and inhabits the Holarctic. It is distinct from the other species of the genus '' Pyla'', which are only found in North America, and has been proposed for separation in a monotypic gen ...

''. A male specimen was collected from the Altai Mountains in Russia in 2016.

Appearance

''P. polaris'' has brown-grey coloured forewings with a broad, paler band along the posterior margin, which is marked with dark dots. The paler band widens in the posterior wing corner. The costal half of the forewings are paler than the medial half.

References

Plutellidae Moths described in 1880 Moths of Europe Moths of Asia Taxa named by Philipp Christoph Zeller {{Yponomeutoidea-stub