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'Elusive' native moth re-discovered after 30 years
To most people, the trap would have contained a pair of small, brown moths.
But when entomologist Robert Hoare saw the insects, he knew he'd stuck metaphorical gold.
He'd found two izatha caustopa moths, a rare New Zealand species that hasn't been seen for 30 years. The moth has only been caught three times since 1942.
A colleague of Hoare's caught the specimens in a tent-like trap he'd set up to snare flies during a "bio-blitz" at Bushy Park near Whanganui.
Hoare had included the species in a book he'd published back in 2010 on New Zealand native moths. However, until now the only caustopa he'd seen were historical samples in display cases.
"It was pretty exciting really. These things, they're quite elusive," he says.
However, it's possible the moths aren't as rare as they seem. Hoare suspects there might be quite concentrated, healthy pockets of the species dotting the lower North Island.
"In a way, they're probably actually commoner than we realise, but nonetheless they're so elusive that it's wonderful to find them."
Like many of New Zealand's endemic moths, very little is known about izatha caustopa. We don't know what they eat, what time of day they like, or even very much about where they live.
The little we do know is largely thanks to the efforts of George Hudson, and entomologist and astronomer active in the first half of the 20th century.
Hudson, who is best known as the person who proposed daylight saving time, observed the moths in Karori, Wellington.
"He sort of had his eye in and he had the knack for finding them, and after he died in 1946 no one else seems to have had the knack for finding that species," Hoare says.
Hudson noticed they were attracted to native fuschia trees, with the species' caterpillars feeding on rotting fuschia branches.
Hoare suspects this attachment to fuschia may be threatening the species. Fuschia trees are a favourite food for possums, and as a result are declining in parts of New Zealand. That means less habitat for the moths, which are likely an important food source for birds like riflemen, grey warblers and fantails.
Hoare hopes his discovery will allow other to study the habits of this mysterious moth. Now we know it lives in Bushy Park, others can go there to observe it in its natural habitat.
Source:
'Elusive' native moth re-discovered after 30 years | Stuff.co.nz
