- Animals
- ›Arthropods
- ›Hexapods
- ›Insects
- ›Winged and Once-winged Insects
- ›Butterflies and Moths
- ›Geometrid and Swallowtail Moths
- ›Geometer Moths
- ›Carpet Moths
- ›Xanthorhoini
- ›Helastia
Helastia mutabilis
Helastia mutabilis is a species of moth of the family Geometridae. It is endemic to New Zealand, where it is known from both the North and South Islands. It inhabits native forest at lower altitudes and its larval host are moss species in the genus Racomitrium. This species is nocturnal and is attracted to light. It can easily be confused with the similar in appearance species Helastia alba and Helastia cinerearia.
From the article Helastia mutabilis on Wikipedia (CC BY-SA), quoted section by section
Description
This species was described by Craw as follows:Small to medium sized (9.5-13.1 mm) triangular forewing. Upperside forewing colouration brownish white to grey with brown to dark brown wavy transverse lines. Male antennae bipectinated. This species is similar in appearance to and can be easily confused with H. alba and H. cinerearia. The most reliable way to distinguish between these species is via the examination of their genitalia.
Range & habitat
H. mutabilis is endemic to New Zealand. It can be found in both the North and South Islands.
Wikipedia: “Distribution”
Listen
Looking for field recordings…
Where it lives
Recorded sightings
—
geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.
Drag the globe to turn it. Dots are where records exist, not a range map; darker means more records.
In the stacks
Searching the stacks…
Every page naming Helastia mutabilis in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →
This page is assembled live from iNaturalist, GBIF, Wikipedia, the Source Library and the Internet Archive. It is not yet part of the hand-edited codex. iNaturalist taxon 390327.