Chezala minyra

Chezala minyra (Meyrick, 1914)
(one synonym is Chezala nugax Meyrick, 1920)
CHEZALA GOUP
OECOPHORINAE, OECOPHORIDAE, GELECHIOIDEA

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

Chezala minyra
(Photo: courtesy of Andrew Mitchell, Australian Museum)

The Caterpillars of this species are thought to feed on dead leaves of:

Gum Trees ( Eucalypt species, MYRTACEAE ).

The caterpillars are thought to live in a case made from dead leaves joined with silk, later instars carrying their cases around with them, and in due course, pupating in their final case.

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

The adult moth has pale brown forewings that each have brown speckles and spots, more densely speckled towards the margin, Each forewing has a prominent elongated dark dot near the middle. The wingspan is about 2 cms.

The species has been found in:

Queensland.

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. 144-145, 150.

Edward Meyrick,
Oecophoridae
Exotic Microlepidoptera,
Volume 1 (1914), p. 221.

Edward Meyrick,
Oecophoridae
Exotic Microlepidoptera,
Volume 2 (1920), pp. 382-383.