Systematics Member of the Old World oxycanine group (Brown et al., 2000).
Habitat Forest. Lowland to upland for D. unimaculatus in the North Island, and cool temperate montaine forests in the North Island and lowland temperate forests in the northern South Island for D. characteriferer (Dugdale, 1994).
Biology Adults begin flying at dusk. Larvae probably feed on leaf litter. Younger instar larvae have been found in leaf litter. Older instars tunnel into the soil (Dugdale, 1994; Grehan et al., 1984).
References Brown, B., J.S.Dugdale, R.M. Emberson, & A.M. Patterson. 2000. Phylogeny of New Zealand hepialid moths (Lepidoptera: Hepialidae) inferred froma cladistic analysis of morphological data. Systematic Entomology 25, 1-14. Dugdale, J.S. 1994. Fauna of New Zealand 30, 1-163 Grehan, J. R., A. Moeed, and M. J. Meads. 1984.Observations on Trioxycanus enysii (Butler) (sensu Meyrick, 1880) (Lepidoptera: Hepialidae) on Kapiti Island, New Zealand,with a description of larval chaetotaxy. New Zealand Entomologist 7: 408-413.
Dumbletonius characterifera (Walker, 1865) New Zealand, North Island
Male genitalia JRG M173
Dumbletonius unimaculata (Salmon, 1948) New Zealand, North Island and northern South Island