Spotted flying low in the dunes. Rested briefly. Strong northwesterly at the time of observation. Northeasterly and northerly wind the previous day. Butterfly eventually flew north-west over the beach in the direction of a headland.

Presumably wild. Single plant noted growing under a silver germander (Teucrium fruticans). Not seen in adjacent garden or indeed in any of the street side gardens in vicinity. I am more familiar with this species as a naturalised plant from the far north of Northland, where it can be locally common e.g., Kaitaia.

Voucher: P.J. de Lange 14773 & F.J.T. de Lange, UNITEC 11738

Insecta: Lepidoptera
Oecophoridae, Stathmopodinae
Stathmopoda orbiculata

Lam Tsuen San Tsuen, Tai Po, Hong Kong.

This is the second record of this small (6mm long) moth in Hong Kong

The Stathmopodinae have a very distinctive resting posture and heavily bristled legs - an unmistakeable combination!

Note that Stathmopodinae is regarded by some taxonomists as a valid family within the Gelechioidea, and was treated as such in the overview of Lepidoptera by van Nieukirken et al., 2011

The chocolate-colored underside to the hindwings is diagnostic for this rare eastern South Island species of copper butterfly. Caterpillars on Muehlenbeckia complexa. Both South Island glade copper and Canterbury Common copper are present on these roadside patches of pohuehue too.

A sooty mold on sap-sucker exudate on grapefruit leaves. Usually loosely called Capnodium citri in the literature - a name covering multiple species. In this case microscopy indicates this is actually Chaetaboliisia falcata. This is sometimes recorded on Citrus, but not in NZ before. However the species was originally described from Tanoak and so equivalence of this citrus-sooty mold component remains to be proven.

I kid you not, found 1km up Gebbies Pass Rd. Unfortunately it passed away before we collected it. I work for DOC (hence the fact it’s on the back of a truck) and was IDed by another ranger because I haven’t a clue. Oddly, not the first seal blobbing up Gebbies Pass... if not a crabeater, another ID would be awesome.

First record in NZ since 1990 according to https://www.gbif.org/occurrence/1091216932

and

https://avh.ala.org.au/occurrences/search?taxa=lathyrus%20sphaericus#tab_mapView

Stand to be corrected of course.
Amazingly the last observation was in almost exactly the same place in 1990! Must have been ticking along in this place ever since. I'll be keeping an eye out for it in the wider Port Hills area.

As far as I can tell previously unknown from the Port Hills. There were about a dozen gaps in the rock wall occupied accounting for about an eighth of the circumference of the water tank. I checked the rock walls around the perimeter of the reserve and found none. Something to keep an eye out for in the hills @jon_sullivan

Got some pics with sori @david_lyttle

Locality: NEW ZEALAND AK, Auckland 1072, suburb of Saint Johns, University of Auckland Tamaki Campus.

Habitat: Beaten from Trifolium pratense, at the margin of level 1 unsealed carpark.

Identification: Coleophora deauratella Lienig & Zeller, 1846. New to N.Z.!

Early arrival from Australia, or is the butterfly overwintering in NZ? Butterfly was feeding on Arctotis flowers, and was frequently disturbed by foraging bumblebees.

Short video in the video link field.

I was talking with Adrian Paterson in my office when, to our huge surprise, this painted lady butterfly(European Small Tortoiseshell!!!) flew in through my open window. I've only seen three of these butterflies before in Canterbury, and never in the winter. Very odd!

Scattered vines growing above Gills Road and access point into Gills Reserve. Growing through masses of Jasminum polyanthum, a few flowers seen - these white. MPI staff present on this visit and they have independently reported this find.

See also: https://inaturalist.nz/observations/26368031 and https://inaturalist.nz/observations/15185681 - seemingly the first record (though unsupported by a voucher)

Voucher: P.J. de Lange 14395, UNITEC 10775 (Duplicate: AK, CHR). DNA voucher.

Determination confirmed by DNA sequence (nrDNA, cpDNA)

I'm not sure what kind of lady beetle this is. It clearly had two large spots and was quite a large ladybug but the colors are different to the photo included with the two spotted ladybug information. Help identifying appreciated.

Blockhouse Bay Recreational Reserve. Infesting the trunk and cut branches of a live oak tree. Two adults observed diurnally active on the trunk. Several frass tubes also observed sticking out of tunnel entrances.