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Tingena letharga is a species of moth in the family Oecophoridae.[2] It is endemic to New Zealand and has been observed in Otago. Adults are on the wing in December and January.

Tingena letharga
Male lectotype
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Oecophoridae
Genus:	Tingena
Species:	T. letharga
Binomial name
Tingena letharga (Meyrick, 1883)[1]
Synonyms[2]
Oecophora letharga Meyrick, 1883 Borkhausenia letharga (Meyrick, 1883)

Taxonomy

This species was first described by Edward Meyrick in 1883 using specimens collected in Dunedin in January.[3][4] Meyrick originally named the species Oecophora horaea.[3] Meyrick went on to give a fuller description of the species in 1884.[4] In 1915 Meyrick placed this species within the Borkhausenia genus.[5] In 1926 Alfred Philpott was unable to study the genitalia of the male of this species as it was not represented in collections in New Zealand.[6] George Hudson discussed this species under the name Borkhausenia letharga in his 1928 publication The butterflies and moths of New Zealand.[7] In 1988 J. S. Dugdale placed this species in the genus Tingena.[2] The male lectotype specimen is held at the Natural History Museum, London.[2]

Description

Meyrick first described this species as follows:

Fore wings whitish-grey, irrorated with fuscous, three anterior costal spots, two discal dots, a third on fold before first, and posterior transverse angulated line dark fuscous ; hind wings grey.[3]

Meyrick described this species more fully as follows:

Male. — 16-16+1⁄2 mm. Head, palpi, antennae, and thorax ochreous-whitish, mixed with fuscous-grey. Abdomen ochreous-whitish. Anterior and middle legs fuscous-grey, central ring of tibiae and apex of all joints ochreous-whitish ; posterior legs ochreous-whitish. Forewings moderate, costa moderately arched, apex rounded, hindmargin extremely obliquely rounded ; pale whitish-grey, slightly ochreous-tinged, and irrorated with dark fuscous ; a cloudy fuscous spot on costa at base, another at 1⁄4, and a third in middle ; a small cloudy dark fuscous spot in disc near base ; a dark fuscous dot in disc before middle, a second beyond middle, and a third rather obliquely before first on fold ; a cloudy fuscous outwards-bent transverse line from f of costa to anal angle, indented inwards beneath costa : cilia pale whitish-ochreous, sprinkled with dark fuscous. Hindwings light grey, apex darker ; cilia grey-whitish, with a distinct grey line near base.[4]

Distribution

This species is endemic to New Zealand and has been observed in Otago including at Dunedin and Ida Valley.[1][4][7]

Behaviour

Adults of this species are on the wing in December and January.[4][7]

References

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