A magnificent moth, unseen for 65 years, has popped up on Stewart Island/Rakiura.
Entomologist Robert Hoare, writing about the “sensational rediscovery” for the Entomological Society Newsletter, calls the frosted phoenix the “Holy Grail of New Zealand moths”.
The phoenix staged its dramatic reappearance on iNaturalist—a Swedish tourist, Pav Johnsson, had put an LED light on the balcony of the South Sea Hotel in Oban, photographed the various moths that turned up, and posted the pics online.
Two weeks later, Auckland palaeontologist and moth buff Neville Hudson declared one of the photos showed Titanomis sisyrota. “Neville was right, as usual,” Hoare reported. “The photograph created an amazing furore of excitement, never before seen in the Lepidoptera world of New Zealand!”