Critter of the Week

The ghost moths are an ancient group of moths that appeared over 100 million years ago. Named after a ghostly European moth, the ghost moths are often thought to be the souls of the departed come back to visit the living. The forest ghost moth, Dumbletonius unimaculatus, is one of 27 species of ghost moth endemic to Aotearoa. They live in low-lying forests in the North Island where their caterpillars live in underground tunnels. Sometimes, the caterpillars are transformed into mummies by a sinister fungal assassin.