Yellow featherfoot facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Yellow featherfoot |
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| Scientific classification | |
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Stathmopodidae
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| Genus: |
Stathmopoda
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| Species: |
S. skelloni
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| Stathmopoda skelloni (Butler, 1880)
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Stathmopoda skelloni, the yellow featherfoot, is a species of moth in the Stathmopodidae family. It is endemic to New Zealand.
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Taxonomy
This species was first described by Arthur Gardiner Butler in 1880 and named Boocara skelloni. Butler named this species in honour of William Skellon who had sent various specimens he had collected in Blenheim to Butler. In 1889 Edward Meyrick placed this species within the genus Stathmopoda. The type specimen is held at the Natural History Museum, London. The common name for this species is the yellow featherfoot.
The name skelloni was previously incorrectly used for S. horticola, a similar looking species which can be distinguished by the more extensive markings on the forewing of that species.
Description
Meyrick described this species as follows:
♂♀︎. 12-15mm. Head, palpi, and antennae pale whitish-ochreous. Thorax whitish-ochreous. Abdomen pale whitish-ochreous, greyish-tinged. Legs pale whitish-ochreous, anterior pair infuscated, apex of posterior tibiae grey. Forewings elongate, very narrow broadest near base, long-pointed ; whitish-ochreous, sometimes yellowish-tinged ; markings grey, very variable, sometimes partially margined by an ochreous suffusion ; normally an elongate spot on inner margin at 1⁄3, a second beneath costa in middle, a third in disc at 2⁄3, a fourth before apex, and a slender subcostal line from second spot to costa near apex, but these tend to be variously connected and confused ; sometimes a streak along fold, or along anterior part of costa ; rarely a dark ochreous-fuscous suffusion towards base of inner margin : cilia light grey, sometimes ochreous-tinged. Hindwings and cilia light grey.
Distribution
This species is endemic to New Zealand and can be found in Taranaki, Wellington, Blenheim, Nelson, Christchurch, Dunedin, Lake Wakatipu and Invercargill.
Habitat
S. skelloni is found in a variety of habitats including native forest, coastal dunes, shrubland as well as cultivated gardens and orchards.
