Uresiphita polygonalis

Uresiphita polygonalis is a moth of the family Crambidae. The species was described by Michael Denis and Ignaz Schiffermüller in 1775. It is found in the Pacific, including Hawaii and New Zealand, Sri Lanka, Europe and northern and southern Africa.^[1][2]

Uresiphita polygonalis
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Crambidae
Genus:	Uresiphita
Species:	U. polygonalis
Binomial name
Uresiphita polygonalis (Denis & Schiffermüller, 1775)
Synonyms
Pyralis polygonalis Denis and Schiffermüller, 1775 Mecyna polygonalis Pyralis limbalis Denis and Schiffermüller, 1775 Uresiphita limbalis Mecyna virescens Butler, 1881 Uresiphita aversalis (Guenée, 1854) Uresiphita consanguinalis (Guenée, 1854) Uresiphita deprivalis (Walker, 1859) Uresiphita diversalis (Hübner, 1796) Uresiphita extinctalis Caradja, 1916 Uresiphita gilvata (Fabricius, 1794) Uresiphita ochrocrossa Clarke, 1971 Uresiphita orientalis (Fabricius, 1794) Uresiphita teriadalis (Guenée, 1854) Uresiphita villicalis (Hübner, 1826)

The wingspan is about 27 mm. Adults range in color from green to red.

Larval food plants are mainly quinolizidine-bearing tribes of Fabaceae, (Ulex europaeus, Genista sp., Sarothamnus sp., Sophoreae sp., Sophora tomentosa, Carmichaeliae and Genisteae).^[1][3] In Hawaii they have been recorded on Acacia koa and Sophora chrysophylla.

Subspecies

Uresiphita polygonalis maorialis

• Uresiphita polygonalis polygonalis
• Uresiphita polygonalis virescens (Butler, 1881) (Hawaii)
• Uresiphita polygonalis maorialis (Felder & Rogenhofer, 1875) (New Zealand)

Uresiphita polygonalis maorialis

This subspecies is endemic to New Zealand where it is also known as the kowhai moth.^[4][5] It is sometimes referred to under the species name Uresiphita maorialis.^[6] This subspecies occurs throughout New Zealand and its larvae feed on the endemic kowhai species as well as introduced tree lupin.