Te Marama o Matariki He Maramataka Mäori
Whiringa-ä-rangi
6th Month of the Mäori Year - November/December
Ka maranga mai a Pareärau i te tahatü o te rangi rawhiti tonga ki te rawhiti. Kei te tiki kai ngä manu mö o rätou pïpï. Kei te püäwai te Pöhutukawa me te Hïnau. Kei te kitea hoki ngä pepe püriri i te ngahere. Kei te kaha te whiti o Tama Nui te Rä, he wä wera mö Papatüänuku.
Jupiter rises in the east-southeast. Birds gather food for their chicks. Pöhutukawa and Hïnau are covered in flowers. Puriri moths can be found in the forest. The sun is strong and earth is quite hot.
Te Tohu o Kaupeka - Pepetuna
Sign of the Season - Puriri Moth (Aenetus virescens)
‘He iti mokoroa e hinga puriri.’
‘The little mokoroa grub fells a puriri tree.’
This whakatauäkï (proverb) reminds us that small things can have a huge impact in our world.
When Pepetuna are found in the forests the sun is strong and earth is quite hot.
Pepetuna, known also as the Ghost Moth, is the largest native moth of New Zealand with wings spanning up to 15cm. It can be found in abundance during Whiringa-ä-rangi (6th Matariki month) laying its eggs in North Island forests.
Pepetuna is said to be descended from Hinepeke and Tuteahuru, grandson of Tane. Its name is a reference to the moth in its caterpillar form as a food source for migrating eels (tuna) and is known as a spiritual messenger seen flying at dusk and into the night back to realms of its ancestors.
The forewings of the male are soft velvety-green with pale green and white markings over white coloured hind wings. The forewings of the female are a velvet green with dark black mottled markings and soft camel coloured hind wings. Adult moths have a life span of one or two days, just long enough to lay eggs. They possess no mouthparts so cannot feed. When the eggs hatch, mokoroa or larvae spend a year on the ground in decaying wood before making their way into trunks of Puiriri and other native trees by excavating small tunnels that they seal with a webbing of silk for protection. They stay in these tunnels for up to seven years, growing up to 80mm on regenerating wood tissue just under the bark. It becomes a chrysalis upon leaving the tunnel before its brief transformation into a moth.
