''Xanthorhoe bulbulata'' 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

Geometridae The geometer moths are moths belonging to the family Geometridae of the insect order Lepidoptera, the moths and butterflies. Their scientific name derives from the Ancient Greek ''geo'' γεω (derivative form of or "the earth"), and ''met ...

. 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

''X. bulbulata'' was first described by

Achille Guenée Achille Guenée (sometimes M.A. Guenée; 1 January 1809 – 30 December 1880) was a French lawyer and entomologist. Biography Achille Guenée was born in Chartres and died in Châteaudun. He was educated in Chartres, where he showed a very e ...

in 1868. In 1883

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 ...

placed the species within the genus ''Larentia''. In 1898

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 ...

assigned the species to the genus ''Xanthorhoe''. L. B. Prout, in 1939, again placed this species within the genus ''Larentia''. In 1971 J. S. Dugdale disagreed with the placement and included this species within the genus ''Helastia.'' However this was not agreed with by R. C. Craw and in 1987 he placed the species within the genus ''Xanthorhoe''. In 1988 Dugdale agreed with Craw's placement. The female

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 found 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 ...

Original description

Guenée described the species as follows:

Distribution and habitat

This species is endemic to New Zealand. Historically this moth was distributed throughout much of 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 ...

with records obtained from as far north as Awapiri in the

Awatere valley The Awatere River is a large river flowing through Marlborough, New Zealand. Flowing along the trace of the active Awatere Fault, it runs northeast through a straight valley to the west of the Inland Kaikoura mountains. This valley is parallel ...

down to

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 ...

. The moths could be found in "open, grassy places" from sea level to elevations of 660-930m. Records suggest that the moth was once "common" between September and March.

Species decline

Despite having been common in New Zealand up to the 1930s, since 1 January 1940 there have been only two recorded collections of ''X. bulbulata.'' These were a male found flying during the day in Queenstown in 1979 and a female caught in a light trap between February and March 1991 at the Eastern entrance to the

Kawarau Gorge The Kawarau Gorge is a major river gorge created by the Kawarau River in Central Otago, in the South Island of New Zealand. The towns of Queenstown and Cromwell are linked by through the gorge. The gorge begins some 30 kilometres from Queensto ...

. Intensive sampling for this moth covering 285 sites between 1995 and 2000 returned no specimens. It is thought that the documented decline in this species is the result of ecological changes to habitats following European settlement.

Conservation status

This species has 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 ...

. This species is feared extinct.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q21300382 Xanthorhoe Moths of New Zealand Endemic fauna of New Zealand Moths described in 1868 Taxa named by Achille Guenée Endangered biota of New Zealand Endemic moths of New Zealand