Pseudocoremia lutea

This species was first described by Alfred Philpott in 1914 using specimens collected at Bold Peak, Humboldt Range by C. Fenwick and George Howes in December and January.^[3] Philpott named the species Selidosema lutea. George Hudson, using the same name, described and illustrated this species in his 1928 book The Butterflies and Moths of New Zealand.^[4] In 1988 John S. Dugdale assigned the species to the genus Pseudocoremia.^[2] The holotype specimen is held at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa.^[5]

Philpott described the species as follows:

♂︎. 47 mm. Head, palpi, and thorax dull yellowish-brown, face paler. Antennae moderately bipectinated, yellowish - brown. Abdomen pale yellow-brown. Forewings strongly arched at base, costa faintly sinuate, apex subacute, termen sinuate, rounded beneath, oblique; dull yellowish-brown with a few scattered blackish scales, most plentiful near apex; basal line indicated by a few blackish scales at dorsum; first line much interrupted, dentate, black, most pronounced as an inwardly oblique mark on dorsum; a series of obscure interneural black dots on termen : cilia dull yellowish-brown with obscure darker line. Hindwings, termen sinuate; very pale yellowish-brown; a prominent black discal dot and some black scales round termen : cilia pale yellowish-brown with faint darker line and tips whitish.^[3]

This species is endemic to New Zealand.^[1][6] This species can only be found in the Otago Lakes area.^[7]