Ichneutica subcyprea

This species was first described by Robert Hoare in 2019.[2] The holotype specimen was collected as a larva by Hoare on Farley Track in the Waitākere Ranges.[2] He found it on a dead frond base of a tree fern in the genus Tmesipteris and reared it to adulthood on Tmesipteris.[2] The holotype specimen is held at the New Zealand Arthropod Collection.[2]

The larvae of this species are bright green in appearance.[2]

Adult I. subcyprea is very similar in appearance to I. chlorodonta.[2] However I. chlorodonta differs from I. subcyprea as the male of that species has slightly longer pectinations, it has a distinctive lilac-grey to lead grey colour to the antemedian and postmedian lines, green scaling between antemedian and postmedian lines, much darker brown hindwings, and has a paler underside of the hindwings.[2]

The adult male wingspan is between 32 and 34 mm whereas the female wingspan is between 30 and 32 mm.[2]

This species is endemic to New Zealand.[3] I. subcyprea is found in the North Island in Northland, Auckland, the Coromandel, near Ohakune, on Mount Taranaki and Mount Messenger.[2] This species has also been found in the South Island in Southland in the Opouri Valley.[2]

This species exists where its host-plant lives, that is, in humid native forest.[2]

Larvae have been found feeding during the day upon the leaves of its host.[2] The adults of this species are on the wing from September to December, although there is one record each from January and July.[2]

I. subcyprea is the only New Zealand noctuid known to feed exclusively on ferns.[2] They pupate in the dead fronds of their hosts.[2]