Ichneutica arotis
species of moth endemic to New Zealand
Ichneutica arotis is a moth of the family Noctuidae. It is endemic to New Zealand. This species is found throughout the North and South Islands but has yet to be recorded on Stewart Island. I. arotis is variable in appearance and have been described as having a "northern dark form", a "typical" form and a "swamp" form. Robert Hoare hypothesised that this species may be in the process of evolving into several distinct species. However, as these forms show no difference in antennae or genitalia so, as at 2019, they are not regarded as separate species. Larval hosts include species in the genera Cortaderia and Schoenus as well as Phormium tenax. The caterpillar feeds at night and rests in during the day amongst dead flax leaves. It pupates in a loose cocoon either hidden at the base of a stem of flax or on the ground. The adults of this species is on the wing from September to April.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Ichneutica arotis” as species of moth endemic to New Zealand. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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The subject matters to the science & nature register because the source frames it as species of moth endemic to New Zealand. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Stable identifiers, scientific names and standards terminology offer the best bridge between this overview and specialist evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 12, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q104203623. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2019.
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This entry incorporates text from “Ichneutica arotis” 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.