''Pyrgotis pyramidias'' 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

Tortricidae The Tortricidae are a family of moths, commonly known as tortrix moths or leafroller moths, in the order Lepidoptera. This large family has over 11,000 species described, and is the sole member of the superfamily Tortricoidea, although the genu ...

. 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 is classified as "At Risk, Naturally Uncommon" 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 ...

. This species is regarded as having two 'forms' although doubt has been expressed whether these are the same species.

Taxonomy

''P. pyramidias'' was first described by

Edward Meyrick Edward Meyrick (25 November 1854, in Ramsbury – 31 March 1938, at Thornhanger, Marlborough) was an English schoolmaster and amateur entomologist. He was an expert on microlepidoptera and some consider him one of the founders of modern micr ...

in 1901 from a specimen collected 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 ...

Invercargill Invercargill ( , mi, Waihōpai is the southernmost and westernmost city in New Zealand, and one of the southernmost cities in the world. It is the commercial centre of the Southland region. The city lies in the heart of the wide expanse of t ...

George Hudson George Hudson (probably 10 March 1800 – 14 December 1871) was an English railway financier and politician who, because he controlled a significant part of the railway network in the 1840s, became known as "The Railway King"—a title conferr ...

described and illustrated this species in his 1928 book ''The Butterflies and Moths of New Zealand''. The

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 ...

specimen 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 ...

. The holotype represents ''P. pyramidias''

sensu stricto ''Sensu'' is a Latin word meaning "in the sense of". It is used in a number of fields including biology, geology, linguistics, semiotics, and law. Commonly it refers to how strictly or loosely an expression is used in describing any particular co ...

Description

Meyrick originally described the species as follows: The holotype specimen described above is typical of the species from the type locality in that it has a drab appearance and is smaller than the form of the species existing in silver beech forest. The adults of this latter form are more brightly coloured and patterned. Doubt has been expressed whether this larger, more colourful form is the same species as the smaller, more drab form of this moth.

Distribution

This species is endemic to New Zealand. It is found from the

Bay of Plenty The Bay of Plenty ( mi, Te Moana-a-Toi) is a region of New Zealand, situated around a bight of the same name in the northern coast of the North Island. The bight stretches 260 km from the Coromandel Peninsula in the west to Cape Runawa ...

Southland Southland may refer to: Places Canada * Dunbar–Southlands, Vancouver, British Columbia New Zealand * Southland Region, a region of New Zealand * Southland County, a former New Zealand county * Southland District, part of the wider Southland Reg ...

. The type locality is around Awarua Bog and

Tiwai Point Tiwai Point lies at the entrance to Bluff Harbour on the southern coast of the South Island of New Zealand. A spit which extends from the western end of the Awarua Plain, it lies between Awarua Bay to the north and Foveaux Strait to the south. ...

and this is where the smaller, more drab form of the species lives. This form has also been found at

Whakarewarewa Whakarewarewa (reduced version of Te Whakarewarewatanga O Te Ope Taua A Wahiao, meaning ''The gathering place for the war parties of Wahiao'', often abbreviated to Whaka by locals) is a Rotorua semi-rural geothermal area in the Taupo Volcanic ...

in Rotorua. The more colourful and patterned form of this species is found in the above stated range where its host plant is present.

Biology and life cycle

This species is on the wing between October and February.

Host plants and habitat

Leucopogon fasciculatus in Auckland Botanic Gardens

The host plant of the larvae of ''P. pyramidia'' in the type locality and the above-mentioned population in Rotorua is ''

Leucopogon fasciculatus ''Leucopogon fasciculatus'', the tall mingimingi, is a species of shrub within the family Ericaceae. It is Endemism, endemic to New Zealand. This species is found in the North Island north of the Bay of Plenty and Taranaki. In the South Island i ...

''. The larger, more colourful and patterned form of this species has larvae that feed on ''

Lophozonia menziesii ''Nothofagus menziesii'', commonly known as silver beech ( mi, tawhai, tahina), is a tree of the southern beech family endemic to New Zealand. Its common name probably comes from the fact that its bark is whitish in colour, particularly in younge ...

''. This host plant is absent from Invercargill and its surrounding area.

Conservation status

''P. pyramidia'' s.s. has been classified as having the "At Risk, Naturally Uncommon" 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=Q14242426 Moths described in 1901 Archipini Moths of New Zealand Endemic fauna of New Zealand Endangered biota of New Zealand Taxa named by Edward Meyrick Endemic moths of New Zealand