Epalxiphora axenana

Epalxiphora axenana
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Tortricidae
Genus:	Epalxiphora
Species:	E. axenana
Binomial name
Epalxiphora axenana Meyrick, 1881

Epalxiphora axenana, the brindled bell or sharp-tipped bell moth, is a species of moth of the family Tortricidae. It was first described by Edward Meyrick in 1881. It is endemic to New Zealand.

Taxonomy

E. axenana was first described by Edward Meyrick in 1881 using one specimen taken at rest on a tree trunk near Wellington in January. George Hudson discussed and illustrated this species in his 1928 book The butterflies and moths of New Zealand under that name. The female holotype is held at the Natural History Museum, London. John S. Dugdale points out that the female holotype has attached to it via glue the metathorax, hindwings, and abdomen of a male specimen.

Description

Hudson described this species in detail. He states:

The expansion of the wings of the male varies from slightly over 3⁄4 inch to 1+1⁄8 inches; of the female from slightly under 1 inch to 1+1⁄4 inches. The fore-wings in the male have the apex slightly hooked and the termen strongly bowed; the general colour varies from pale ochreous-brown to dull purplish-grey; the costa is broadly shaded with dark brown, darkest near the middle and usually enclosing an oval paler patch; in the purplish varieties there is often a large reddish patch just below the costa; there is nearly always a narrow pale brown or yellowish patch on the apex and usually a number of dark brownish markson the dorsum. The hind-wings are pale grey obscurely mottled with darker grey.

Hudson goes into more detail for the female of the species stating:

The female has the fore-wings considerably longer and narrower, the costa elbowed at 1⁄3, the apex more strongly hooked, and the colouring and markings much more variable than in the male; the usual ground colour is pdle brownish-ochreous or bone colour; there is a dark brown oblong mark on the costa at one-sixth almost meeting a pale brown wavy band on the dorsum at about 1⁄4; a narrow pale brown band on the costa at 1⁄3 almost meets a large patch of the same colour on the dorsum which reaches to the tornus; there is a narrow, irregular, edging of brown on the costa from about 1⁄2 nearly to the apex, leaving a narrow, oblique apical band of the pale ground colour; the termen is more or less distinctly bordered with pale brown. The hind-wings are very pale ochreous, faintly mottled with grey.

Some forms of this species

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Distribution

This species is endemic to New Zealand. This species was regarded as being endemic to the North Island. But since the mid-1980s it has been present in the South Island, likely transported on horticultural plants or garden shrubs.

Habitat and hosts

The larvae feed on Macropiper excelsum, Dysoxylum spectabile and Citrus species.

Behaviour

Adults have been recorded on wing from November to the beginning of January in one or more generations per year.