Thema endesma (Meyrick, 1884) (formerly known as Pleurota endesma) CHEZALA GOUP OECOPHORINAE,   OECOPHORIDAE,   GELECHIOIDEA

Don Herbison-Evans, (donherbisonevans@yahoo.com) and Stella Crossley

(Photo: courtesy of Ken Harris, Yarra Ranges, Victoria)

The Caterpillars of species in this genus feed on dead leaves in the leaf litter on the ground under trees.

The forewings of the adult moth of this species are brown with pale markings, often including pale diagonal lines or triangles across each forewing and a pale band along the margin. The hindwings are pale brown darkening towards the wingtips. The wingspan is about 1.5 cms.

(Photo: courtesy of CSIRO/BIO Photography Group, Centre for Biodiversity Genomics, University of Guelph)

The species has been found in

Tasmania.

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Further reading :

Ian F.B. Common,
Oecophorine Genera of Australia II: The Chezala, Philobota and Eulechria groups (Lepidoptera: Oecophoridae),
Monographs on Australian Lepidoptera Volume 5,
CSIRO Publishing, 1997, pp. 173, 176.

Edward Meyrick,
Descriptions of Australian Micro-Lepidoptera XI Oecophoriidae,
Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales,
Series 1, Volume 9, Number 3 (1884), pp. 755-756, No. 295.

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(written 2 February 2017, updated 26 October 2018, 8 July 2021)