Izatha spheniscella is a moth

Moth

A moth is an insect closely related to the butterfly, both being of the order Lepidoptera. Moths form the majority of this order; there are thought to be 150,000 to 250,000 different species of moth , with thousands of species yet to be described...

 of the Oecophoridae

Oecophoridae

Oecophoridae is a family of small moths in the superfamily Gelechioidea. The phylogeny and systematics of gelechoid moths are still not fully resolved, and the circumscription of the Oecophoridae is strongly affected by this....

 family. It is endemic to New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

, where it is only known from the subantarctic Snares Islands.

The wingspan

Wingspan

The wingspan of an airplane or a bird, is the distance from one wingtip to the other wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777 has a wingspan of about ; and a Wandering Albatross caught in 1965 had a wingspan of , the official record for a living bird.The term wingspan, more technically extent, is...

is 14–15 mm for males and about 14 mm for females. Adults have been recorded in December and February.

Pupae have been found amongst green algae, the presumed larval host plant, on an overhanging granite rock on Rima Islet, part of the Western Chain of the Snares. The
male paratype from Alert Stack was found amongst crustose lichens, suggesting these may also be fed on by larvae.

Etymology

The species name is a female diminutive of spheniscus, a penguin, and refers to the female moth’s brachyptery and to the rocky subantarctic island habitat.