TORTRICIDAE: Tortricinae ⁶

Ochetarcha miraculosa (Meyrick, 1917). Endemic. Uncommon.

It comes with a couple of forms of wing marking which are quite striking.

Habitat, seasonality and behaviour ⁷

This is not a particularly common moth but can be attracted using artificial light traps from December to February in native forest.

Life history ⁷

Larvae tunnel in rachide of Cyathea dealbata making short lateral galleries. Foodplant: Cyathea dealbata (G.Forst.) Sw., Cyatheaceae (Cyathea tree fern family).

Sources and Credits

1. (c) John Charles, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by John Charles
2. (c) Shaun, some rights reserved (CC BY), uploaded by Shaun
3. (c) Tony Steer, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), uploaded by Tony Steer
4. George Vernon Hudson , no known copyright restrictions (public domain), http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fig_33_MA_I437624_TePapa_Plate-XXV-The-butterflies_full_(cropped).jpg
5. George Vernon Hudson , no known copyright restrictions (public domain), http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fig_9_MA_I437906_TePapa_Plate-XLV-The-butterflies_full_(cropped).jpg
6. Adapted by Tony Steer from a work by (c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ochetarcha_miraculosa
7. (c) Tony Steer, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA)

More Info

• iNaturalist NZ taxon page
• Animal Diversity Web
• Biodiversity Heritage Library
• BOLD Systems BIN search
• CUIC Insect Images
• Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF)
• HOSTS - a Database of the World's Lepidopteran Hostplants
• Tortricid.net

iNaturalist NZ Map