''Stathmopoda campylocha'' 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

Stathmopodidae Stathmopodidae is a family of moths in the moth superfamily Gelechioidea described by Edward Meyrick in 1913. Taxonomy and systematics *'' Actinoscelis'' Meyrick, 1912 *'' Aeoloscelis'' Meyrick, 1897 *'' Arauzona'' Walker, 865/small> *'' Atrijug ...

. 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 critically endangered 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

This species 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 1889 using specimens collected in

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

and

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; mi, Ōtepoti) is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from , the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Th ...

in January. The type 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 ...

and the type locality is recorded as being "Dunedin, New Zealand".

Description

Meyrick described the species as follows:

Distribution

This species is endemic to New Zealand. Historically this species occurred at

and

, and in 1915

Charles E. Clarke Charles Ezra Clarke (April 8, 1790 – December 29, 1863) was a U.S. Representative from New York. Biography Clarke was born in Saybrook, Connecticut on April 8, 1790. He completed preparatory studies and graduated from Yale College in 180 ...

collected a specimen in mid December at Silverstream,

Upper Hutt Upper Hutt ( mi, Te Awa Kairangi ki Uta) is a city in the Wellington Region of New Zealand and one of the four cities that constitute the Wellington#Wellington metropolitan area, Wellington metropolitan area. Geography The Upper Hutt city cent ...

. A further specimen was collected in early February in 1932 in the Pohangina Forest Reserve and was used 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 ...

to create an illustration of the species. In more recent times ''S. campylocha'' has been found to be present in western and eastern

Otago Otago (, ; mi, Ōtākou ) is a region of New Zealand located in the southern half of the South Island administered by the Otago Regional Council. It has an area of approximately , making it the country's second largest local government reg ...

including in the Matukituki Valley.

Ecology and habitat

Meyrick collected his specimens amongst forest and Hudson concurred that the species frequents forest habitat.

Host species

In 2000 Brian H. Patrick discovered that ''S. campylocha'' is associated with the nationally endangered plant ''

Olearia hectorii ''Olearia hectorii'' is a species of flowering plant in the daisy family Asteraceae. Its common names include deciduous tree daisy and Hector's tree daisy. It is endemic to New Zealand, where it is nationally endangered. Taxonomy Members of the ...

''. Patrick was unable to locate ''S. campylocho'' larvae feeding but he hypothesised that they are likely

detritivores Detritivores (also known as detrivores, detritophages, detritus feeders, or detritus eaters) are heterotrophs that obtain nutrients by consuming detritus (decomposing plant and animal parts as well as feces). There are many kinds of invertebrates, ...

or alternatively that they feed on

scale insects Scale insects are small insects of the order Hemiptera, suborder Sternorrhyncha. Of dramatically variable appearance and extreme sexual dimorphism, they comprise the infraorder Coccomorpha which is considered a more convenient grouping than the ...

. He also suggested other possible host plants might be ''

Olearia fimbriata ''Olearia'', most commonly known as daisy-bush, is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Asteraceae, the largest of the flowering plant families in the world. Olearia are found in Australia, New Guinea and New Zealand. The genus i ...

'', ''

Olearia lineata ''Olearia'', most commonly known as daisy-bush, is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Asteraceae, the largest of the flowering plant families in the world. Olearia are found in Australia, New Guinea and New Zealand. The genus i ...

'', ''

Olearia bullata ''Olearia bullata'' is a small divaricating shrub endemic to New Zealand, from the plant family Asteraceae. It has small brownish green leaves with a large amount of interlacing twigs, and grows to approximately 3 metres in height. References ...

'' or ''

Olearia fragrantissima ''Olearia fragrantissima'' is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae. It is found only in New Zealand. It is threatened by habitat loss Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss and habitat reduction) is the process by w ...

''.Plant-SyNZ
indicates ''

Olearia virgata ''Olearia'', most commonly known as daisy-bush, is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Asteraceae, the largest of the flowering plant families in the world. Olearia are found in Australia, New Guinea and New Zealand. The genus i ...

'' as another possible host plant, attributed to Patrick (2000).

Conservation Status

In 1939 Hudson stated that ''S. campylocha'' was regarded as being extremely rare. This species has been given the "Nationally Critical" 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

External links

Hudson's 1939 illustration of ''S. campylocha''. Plate LX, Fig. 5.
Moths described in 1889 Stathmopodidae Taxa named by Edward Meyrick Moths of New Zealand Endemic fauna of New Zealand Endangered biota of New Zealand Endemic moths of New Zealand {{Stathmopodidae-stub