About Microcolona limodes Meyrick, 1897
This species, Microcolona limodes, was described by Meyrick in 1897. Both male and female individuals have a body length between 7 and 8 millimeters. The head is white, with fuscous speckles covering the crown. The palpi are white: the second joint has a blackish lateral line, and the terminal joint has black subbasal and subapical rings. The antennae are whitish, with fuscous spots on their underside. The thorax is whitish-ochreous, and bears two dark fuscous spots on its posterior portion. The abdomen is whitish. The legs are dark fuscous, with whitish speckles and whitish rings. The forewings are very narrow, and ochreous in base color; they are mixed with white and sprinkled with dark fuscous, with the anterior half almost entirely suffused with white, and sometimes this suffusion covers the entire wing. There is a raised black dot on the wing fold at one-sixth of the wing length, a larger black dot beneath the fold at one-third, a third black dot in the disc before the middle, a fourth black dot obliquely beyond the third, beneath the fold and almost at the dorsum, and two black dots placed transversely close together (or confluent) above the tornus. In some individuals, there is an additional blackish costal dot beyond the middle of the wing. There is a black apical dot, and a second black dot placed obliquely above and before this apical dot. The forewing cilia are whitish-ochreous, and are sprinkled with black around the apex. The hindwings are whitish-grey, and their cilia are whitish-grey-ochreous. This species is endemic to New Zealand. It has been recorded in Canterbury, Pitt Island, and Northland. It occurs in gumland heath habitat. The larvae of this moth feed on the seeds of Myrsine australis and Myrsine salicina.
