A New Genus of Seed-infesting Micropterygid Moths 
L. J. Dumbleton^ 
The superfamily Micropterygoidea con- 
stitutes the most primitive group of the 
Lepidoptera, Like the other superfamily of the 
suborder Homoneura, the Hepialoidea, it is 
characterised by the venation in the fore and 
hind wings being almost identical. They are 
like certain Trichoptera in wing venation and 
in the presence in the pupae of large func- 
tional mandibles. The adult mouth parts 
show a gradation between the mandibulate 
type in the Micropterygidae and the haustel- 
late type, characteristic of most Lepidoptera, 
in the Mnesarchaeidae. The Micropterygidae 
are of world-wide distribution and the larvae 
are external feeders on mosses and liverworts. 
The Eriocraniidae are not known from the 
Southern Hemisphere and their larvae are 
leaf miners on Betulaceae and Cupuliferae. 
The Mnesarchaeidae are confined to New 
Zealand, their larval habits being unknown. 
The Neopseustidae from India and Formosa 
are also unknown in their larval habits. 
In February, 1947, I received some seed of 
Agathis vitiensis, a species of Kauri pine, from 
B. E. V. Parham of the Department of Agri- 
culture of Fiji, with a request that I endeavour 
to rear out and identify the insect with which 
they were infested. Several of the larvae 
present pupated in September, 1948, and the 
pupal characters established the species as a 
micropterygoid moth. Parham also informed 
me that there was a similar larva in the seed 
of Queensland Kauri and A. R. Brimble- 
^Senior Entomologist, Entomological Research 
Station, Department of Scientific and Industrial Re- 
search, Nelson, New Zealand. Manuscript received 
June 18, 1951. 
combe of the Queensland Department of 
Agriculture later sent me larvae and pupae of 
this species. The detailed morphology was 
studied with adult material extracted from 
the pupae. No success was obtained in at- 
tempts to secure emergence of the moths of 
the 'Fijian species and Brimblecombe was 
successful in obtaining emergence of the 
Queensland species only after many years of 
effort. 
The association of these insects with Kauri 
pines {^Agathis spp.) opens an interesting 
field for research since pines of this genus 
occur from the Philippines and Indo-China 
through the Malay Peninsula and Archipelago 
to New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Eastern 
Queensland, New Caledonia, Fiji, and New 
Zealand. The genus Agathis is regarded as 
centred in Malaysia, and the Pacific repre- 
sentatives, of which Agathis vitiensis from Fiji 
is at the easternmost limit of distribution of 
the genus, are regarded as of Malaysian affini- 
ties and derivation. It seems likely that related 
micropterygoid moths will be found to be 
associated with Agathis elsewhere and particu- 
larly in Malaysia. There is at present no evi- 
dence of the occurrence of a related insect in 
the seed of the New Zealand Kauri {Agathis 
australis) or in those of the Moluccas, New 
Caledonia, Borneo, and the Philippines. The 
two species, one from Fiji and the other from 
Queensland, which I describe here, present 
points of considerable interest. The Fijian 
species is the first record of any microptery- 
goid moth from a really oceanic Pacific island 
although they are recorded from Formosa. 
The habit of feeding and pupating within 
ill} 
