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Hierodoris eremita
Hierodoris eremita is a moth of the family Oecophoridae. It is endemic to New Zealand and found in the areas around Aoraki / Mount Cook and Westland Tai Poutini National Park areas. This species inhabits alpine herbfields at altitudes of around 900–1400 m. Larvae are said to have been reared on the leaves of plants in the Celmisia genus. Pupation happens on the host plant. Adults are day flying and are on the wing between December and June. In 2025 this species was classified as "data deficient" under the New Zealand Threat Classification System.
From the article Hierodoris eremita on Wikipedia (CC BY-SA), quoted section by section
Description
As at 2005 the larvae have not yet been described. Philpott described this species as follows:
♀. 22-24 mm. Head whitish-ochreous. Palpi, ochreous-whitish mixed outwardly with brown. Antennae whitish, closely annulated with fuscous. Thorax leaden white. Abdomen whitish-ochreous. broadly banded with dark fuscous dorsally. Legs ochreous white. Forewings oblong, costa strongly arched, apex broadly rounded, termen rounded, not oblique; shining white, faintly ochreous tinged towards termen: fringes white. Hindwings ochreous white, iridescent; apical half fuscous: fringes white.Philpott noted that the female specimens he was using to describe the species were very similar in appearance to moths in the Gelophaula genus.
Range & habitat
This species is endemic to New Zealand and is found around the Aoraki / Mount Cook and Westland Tai Poutini National Park areas in the Westland and Mackenzie districts.
Wikipedia: “Distribution”
What it does
Pupation happens on the host plant. The adults of this species is on the wing between December and June. This species is day flying.
Wikipedia: “Behaviour”
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Looking for field recordings…
Where it lives
Recorded sightings
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geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.
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In the stacks
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Every page naming Hierodoris eremita 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 390505.