This species was first described by Francis Walker in 1865 using specimens collected by T. R. Oxley in Nelson and originally named Xylina defigurata.[3]Edward Meyrick placed this species in the genus Bityla and synonymised Bityla thoracica with this species.[4] The female holotype is held at the Natural History Museum, London.[2]
Description
Walker described this species as follows:
Female. Cinereous-brown. Head and fore tegulae of the thorax dark brown. Palpi dull ochraceous, fringed beneath, obliquely ascending, rising a little higher than the vertex; second joint mostly black on the outer side; third elongate-conical, about one-third of the length of the second. Abdomen brownish-cinereous, extending rather beyond, the hind wings; apical tuft ochraceous. Wings shining, tinged with aeneous. Fore wings with some indistinct brown lines composed of lunules; orbicular and reniform marks indistinctly brown-bordered. Hind wings a little more cinereous than the fore wings. Length of the body 10 lines; of the wings 22 lines.[3]
Distribution
It is endemic to New Zealand and found in both the North and South Islands.[1][5]
Behaviour
The adults of this species are on the wing from January to March and is attracted to light.[5]
