Stigmella tricentra
Stigmella tricentra is a moth of the family Nepticulidae. It was first described by Edward Meyrick in 1889. This species is endemic to New Zealand and is found in both the North and South Islands. This species inhabits the margins of native forest as well as lowland shrublands where its larval host can be found. Larvae are leaf miners and feed on Helichrysum lanceolatum. Adults are on the wing in the wild in March and October. It is likely that this species has two generations in a year.
Taxonomy
This species was first described by Edward Meyrick in 1889 using a specimen collected in Christchurch in March and was originally named Nepticula tricentra. George Hudson discussed that species under that name in his book The butterflies and moths of New Zealand. In 1988 John S. Dugdale placed this species in the genus Stigmella. In 1989 Hans Donner and Christopher Wilkinson agreed with this placement in their monograph on New Zealand Nepticulidae. This placement was again confirmed in a 2016 revision of the global species placed in the family Nepticulidae. The male holotype, collected at Lyttelton, is held at the Natural [History Museum, London].Description
The larvae are pale yellow in appearance and have a length of between 3 and 4 mm. Their mines are wound in a compact manner with frass filling the mine. The cocoon is made of brown silk and is formed within the mine within the leaf which remains attached to the plant. Cocoons have been observed in May, August, September.Meyrick described the female adult of this species as follows:
Donner and Wilkinson described the adult male of this species as follows:
The female is very similar in appearance than the male but has less than 33 segments to its antennae. Adults of this species can be distinguished from the similar appearing Stigmella species as it is of a smaller size.