Southern spread of moths in New Zealand

Abstract

Dugdale (1988) notes 73 moth and butterfly species, particularly Australian, that have become established in New Zealand since European settlement as the result of human assistance. Hoare (2001) recorded and illustrated a further 27 species that had become established in the intervening years to 2001. While most of these 100 species have not yet become established in southern New Zealand, here I note six species of these exotic moths that have, in recent years, spread south to Otago and Southland joining earlier invasions that have generally gone unrecorded.