Cephalissa
genus of moth, endemic to New Zealand
Cephalissa is a monotypic moth genus in the family Geometridae. Its only species, Cephalissa siria, the orange triangle moth, is endemic to New Zealand. This species has been classified as nationally vulnerable by the Department of Conservation. It has suffered a contraction of its range, no longer being seen in Dunedin or Invercargill. It is currently found in the Mt Watkin Scenic Reserve, in eastern Otago, in the Rongahere Gorge and in the Dansey Ecological District. C. siria is known to inhabit kahikatea forest amongst Carex species as well as short tussock grasslands and shrubland. The larval host plant is Fuchsia perscandens. Adult moths are on the wing in October and November.
Taxonomy
This genus and species were first described by Edward Meyrick in 1883 using specimens collected by Frederick Hutton in Dunedin. In 1884 Meyrick described both the genus and the species in greater detail.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Cephalissa” is genus of moth, endemic to New Zealand. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Cephalissa, genus and moth, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “genus of moth, endemic to New Zealand” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
The date and method of observation matter as much as the stated conclusion, especially where classification or consensus has changed. The source revision retrieved here is dated Mar 20, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5063280. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1883 and 1884.
Current terminology should not be projected backward without checking the classification used when the underlying evidence was created. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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This entry incorporates text from “Cephalissa” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.