Puriri Moth - Taupo. North Is. New Zealand.
S 38° 41.770 E 176° 05.540
60H E 421067 N 5716547
An ordinary utility box is transformed into a beautiful work of art by artist Paul Walsh.
Waymark Code: WM1052D
Location: North Island, New Zealand
Date Posted: 02/27/2019
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This Utility Box is decorated with a stunning painting of a Puriri Moth. The box is situated on the corner of Puriri Street and Taharepa Road.
New Zealands largest moth, the puriri moth (Aenetus virescens) is a species of moth of the family Hepialidae. It is also commonly called the ghost moth or pepetuna. 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 grub in a tree trunk (common host plants are the puriri tree (Vitex lucens) and putaputaweta (Carpodetus serratus), but puriri larva also inhabit non-native species such as Eucalyptus), with the last 48 hours of its life as a moth. Adults live only a few days at most, generally being most active at dusk and night time when they mate and lay eggs. The adults do not have any mouthparts and cannot feed, so are sustained only by larval food reserves.
Fact Sheet for Puriri Moth: (
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About the Artist: Paul Walsh, known as NZ's Banksy, has turned street art into a full-time career. He is a self-taught artist from Rotorua. He rose to fame when Watercare removed his painting of the 'Grumpy Cat' meme from a local water tower - they considered it vandalism. But Chorus considered it genius, asking him to paint boxes up and down the country. His artwork is amazing and we hope we see many more examples popping up all over our town of Taupo. He certainly makes an ordinary Utility Box stand out as an absolutely stunning piece of artwork.
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Link To Artist's Website: (
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