Thema psammoxantha (Meyrick, 1884) (previously known as Pleurota psammoxantha) CHEZALA GOUP OECOPHORINAE,   OECOPHORIDAE,   GELECHIOIDEA

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

(Photo: courtesy of Donald Hobern, Aranda, Australian Capital Territory)

Caterpillars of other species in this genus feed on the dead leaves of various tree species in ground leaf litter, and the caterpillars of this species are expected to do the same.

(Photo: courtesy of Brian Cartwright, Adelaide Hills, South Australia)

The adult moth has yellow forewings each with a brown band along the hind margin, and a brown streak originating at the. tornus. In males this brown streak stops in the middle of the wing. In females the streak is longer, curving round to end at the base. The hindwings are plain brown. The wingspan is about 2 cms.

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

The species has been found in:

South Australia.

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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. 172-174, 176.

Edward Meyrick,
Descriptions of Australian Micro-Lepidoptera. XI. Oecophoriidae,
Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales,
Volume 9, Part 3 (1884), pp. 755.

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(updated 1 November 2012, 26 October 2018, 4 March 2021)