Platyptilia hokowhitalis Hudson, 1939:430
Taxonomy & Nomenclature
Conservation Status
Missing
Last (and only) record: 10 November 1889 (Hudson, 1939:430)
Only ever recorded once (Hudson, 1939:430; Stringer et al., 2012). Hudson's original description, 50 years after the only known specimen was collected, already noted that the species is "now possibly extinct" because the "forest is now non-existent and its site occupied by a portion of the town" (Hudson, 1939:430). Stringer et al. (2012:124) clarify that "the Manawatu swamp forest where P. hokowhitalis was collected is now reduced to a few small remnants". There are no observations of the species on iNaturalist.
Distribution
Hokowhitu, Palmerston North, North Island, New Zealand (Hudson, 1939:430)
Biology & Ecology
"Reared from a shrubby Euphrasia (Scrophulariaceae)"
(Patrick & Dugdale, 200:29)
Hypodigm
Holotype: AI.000533 (photo of specimen)
Media
References
Original scientific description:
Hudson, G. V. (1939). A supplement to the butterflies and moths of New Zealand. Wellington: Ferguson & Osborn Ltd. [p. 430]
Other references:
Dugdale, John S. (1988). Lepidoptera - annotated catalogue, and keys to family-group taxa. Fauna of New Zealand 14: 1-269. https://doi.org/10.7931/J2/FNZ.14 [p. 133]
Gordon, Dennis P. (ed.). (2010). New Zealand inventory of biodiversity: Kingdom animalia: chaetognatha, ecdysozoa, ichnofossils. Vol. 2. [p. 457]
Hoare, R. J. B., Dugdale, J. S., Edwards, E. D., Gibbs, G. W., Patrick, B. H., Hitchmough, R. A., Rolfe, J. R. (2017). Conservation status of New Zealand butterflies and moths (Lepidoptera), 2015. New Zealand Threat Classification Series 20. Department of Conservation, Wellington. 13 pp.
Hudson, G. V. (1928). The Butterflies and Moths of New Zealand. Wellington: Ferguson & Osborn Ltd. [p. 209]
Patrick, B. H. and Dugdale, J. S. (2000). Conservation status of New Zealand Lepidoptera. Science for conservation 136. 34 pp.
Stringer, I. A. N., Hitchmough, R. A., Dugdale, J. S., Edwards, E., Hoare, R. J. B. and Patrick, B. H. (2012). The conservation status of New Zealand Lepidoptera. New Zealand Entomologist 35(2): 120-127.