Family Pyralidae

Subfamily Epipaschiinae

1 named species

Stericta carbonalis is an Australian species whose larvae feed on Eucalyptus leaf-litter; the adults are adapted for camouflage on fire-blackened trunks, but do not seem to be confined to recently burnt areas. The labial palpi of the male moth are enlarged and curve back over the head, making the head appear helmeted (a characteristic of this subfamily). This species has only recently become established, occurring on Banks Peninsula and around Christchurch, and may be expected to spread.

Subfamily Galleriinae

2 named species

Two introduced species occur in New Zealand: Galleria mellonella and Achroia grisella are respectively the Greater and Lesser Wax Moths. Their larvae feed in the wax of honeycombs in honeybee hives, and may become pests, particularly when the hives are under stress from other causes. Both species are now cosmopolitan.

Subfamily Phycitinae

16 named species, 1 unnamed

This subfamily contains New Zealand’s only endemic pyralid moths, with two monotypic endemic genera, Delogenes and Sporophyla, currently recognised. Both Delogenes limodoxa and Sporophyla oenospora are very local species of the southern South Island; their life histories are unknown, and there are very few recent records of S. oenospora, a moth of dry inland localities. Homoeosoma anaspila is more widespread; larvae feed in Asteraceae seed-heads including those of Craspedia. Vinicia sp. A is our only representative of a small Australian genus and is apparently endemic (Horak 1997); it is a strictly coastal moth of the northern North Island, and larvae feed on the saltmarsh plant Samolus repens.

Arcola malloi and Pempelia genistella are both weed bio-control agents; A. malloi was introduced for control of alligator weed (Alternanthera philoxeroides) and P. genistella for gorse (Ulex europaeus). Both moths are established but neither species is commonly found at large in New Zealand. Balanomis encyclia is an Australian species, known from very few specimens in New Zealand; it may be established in the far North, where a specimen was reared from native dodder (Cassytha paniculata).

Species of Cadra, Ephestia and Plodia are well known cosmopolitan stored products pests, frequently found in kitchens and warehouses; Plodia interpunctella is by far the commonest species in New Zealand. A specimen of Ephestia kuehniella from Whangarei was described by Meyrick (1931) as a new species Homoeosoma ischnomorpha,since unrecognised; I am very grateful to Maia Vaswani for dissecting the holotype of ischnomorpha in the BMNH and revealing Meyrick’s uncharacteristic error; the synonymy will be formalised elsewhere.

Crocydopora cinigerella, Ephestiopsis oenobarella and Morosaphycita oculiferella are all essentially Australian species now well established in New Zealand; C. cinigerella may be a long-term resident or native here but the others are more recent arrivals. Larvae of M. oculiferella are associated with lucerne and doubtless other Fabaceae; early stages of the other two species seem to be unknown. Etiella behrii is a very scarce immigrant to New Zealand, with fewer than 5 known records; larvae have not been found here, but in Australia and elsewhere feed on various low-growing Fabaceae. Patagoniodes farinaria is a common and widespread species, also shared with Australia, but may be regarded as native in New Zealand: larvae feed in stems of Senecio spp. and Jacobaea vulgaris (ragwort). Ptyomaxia trigonogramma is a further species shared with Australia; it is a coastal moth resident in the northern North Island, where larvae feed on mangrove, Avicennia marina ssp. australasica. It may be a fairly recent adventive, as there are no New Zealand records from before 1954; or perhaps it was overlooked before this date due to lack of collecting in northern coastal localities.

Subfamily Pyralinae

4 named species

All four pyralines present in New Zealand are introduced, and three are widespread synanthropic species. Pyralis farinalis is the Meal Moth, a cosmopolitan stored products pest frequently found indoors, but also in poultry sheds. Aglossa caprealis is a much less common moth, also found indoors, where larvae feed on grain or dry vegetable refuse. In New Zealand, Aglossa pinguinalis has only been collected around Nelson, where larvae have been found in sheep dung. Unlike the other pyraline species, Gauna aegusalis is a native of Australia, established here where wattles (Acacia spp.) occur: larvae feed in the rust galls on these plants caused by the fungus Uromycladium.