Wiseana
Sign in to saveWiseana is a genus of ghost moths, collectively known as porina, of the family Hepialidae. There are seven described species, all endemic to New Zealand. Some species of this genus are a major pest in New Zealand exotic pastures. It is impossible to distinguish species at the larval/caterpillar stage without DNA technology, however adult porina moth species can be visually distinguished.
Museum specimens
- Specimen records
- 37
- Family
- Hepialidae
- Collections
- YPM, USNM
- Recorded in
- New Zealand
~1 min read
Encyclopedic overview
3 sectionsContents
- Species
- References
- External links
Wiseana is a genus of ghost moths, collectively known as porina, of the family Hepialidae. There are seven described species, all endemic to New Zealand. Some species of this genus are a major pest in New Zealand exotic pastures. It is impossible to distinguish species at the larval/caterpillar stage without DNA technology, however adult porina moth species can be visually distinguished.
The genus was first identified by Pierre Viette in 1961, who recognised a distinction between the New Zealand members of the genus Oxycanus and those occurring in Australia and New Guinea.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Wiseana” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.