Pūriri moth
| Pūriri moth | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Lepidoptera |
| Family: | Hepialidae |
| Genus: | Aenetus |
| Species: | A. virescens |
| Binomial name | |
| Aenetus virescens (Doubleday, 1843) | |
| Synonyms | |
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The pūriri moth (Aenetus virescens), also commonly called the ghost moth or pepetuna, is a species of moth of the family Hepialidae. This moth is endemic to the North Island of New Zealand. It is New Zealand's largest moth, with a wingspan of up to 150 mm. It spends the first five to six years of its life as a caterpillar in a tree trunk (common host plants are the pūriri tree (Vitex lucens) and putaputāwētā (Carpodetus serratus), but pūriri larva also inhabit non-native species such as Eucalyptus), with the last 48 hours of its life as a moth.