Puriri moth

Puriri moth
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Hepialidae
Genus: Aenetus
Species: A. virescens
Binomial name
Aenetus virescens
(Doubleday, 1843)
Synonyms
  • Hepialus virescens Doubleday, 1843

The puriri moth, Aenetus virescens, is a moth of the family Hepialidae, endemic to the North Island of New Zealand. It is New Zealand's largest moth, with a wingspan of up to 150 mm.[1][2]

The moth spends the first five to six years of its life as a grub in a tree trunk (including non-native species such as Eucalyptus), with the last 48 hours of its life as a moth. Footage has been taken of a puriri moth chrysalis hatching over a period of one hour and forty minutes.[3]

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