One of my PhD students, Will Frost (who is fast becoming one of NZ's Lepidoptera experts) has just published the first of his thesis chapters, in the journal Austral Entomology. It looks at mōkarakara, the NZ magpie moth, *Nyctemera annulata*, and the hybridisation with its Australian relative, *Nyctemera amicus*.
As the world warms, northern NZ keeps filling up with more Australian insects, and many of those are capable of hybridising with their NZ relatives. Most of the *Nyctemera* in Northland and Auckland are now the Australian *Nyctemera amicus* and its hybrids, while pure *Nyctemera annulata* populations remain through the lower South Island (for now).
In the paper, Will uses a combination of molecular and morphological approaches to describe the features of the two species and their hybrids. He found several reliable morphological differences between the species, plus shows that hybrids typically contain a mix of these characteristics. This can help us to track the spread of these hybrids southwards using people's photos of the moths on iNaturalist.
As we keep warming the world, NZ's cool-world adapted endemic insects are increasingly struggling against the wave of Australian immigrants, especially in northern and lowland NZ. Coming up soon will be Will's chapter showing high parasitism rates of *Nyctemera annulata* by two recently arrived Australian parasitoid wasps.
Frost, W.T., Vink, C.J., Sullivan, J.J. 2026. Evidence for Hybridisation between the New Zealand Magpie Moth *Nyctemera annulata* (Boisduval, 1832) (Lepidoptera: Erebidae) and its Australian sister taxon *Nyctemera amicus* (White, 1841). Austral Entomology; 65:e70109.
https://doi.org/10.1111/aen.70109#entomology #insects #mothodon #moths #science #Lepidoptera #nz #Australia #Nyctemera #Erebidae
