(previously known as Tirema lyonetii) COSSINAE, COSSIDAE, COSSOIDEA | (donherbisonevans@yahoo.com) and Stella Crossley |
(Photo: courtesy of Paul Kay, Perth, Western Australia)
These Caterpillars live underground, feeding on the roots of:
The adult moths have black and white forewings, and plain black hindwings, all with a green sheen (which fades in museum specimens). They have a wingspan of about 5 cms. They are dusk flyers, resting on the tips of grass shoots by day.
They occur in
Further reading :
Ian F.B. Common,
Moths of Australia,
Melbourne University Press, 1990, fig. 26.1, p. 270.
Axel Kallies & Douglas J. Hilton,
Revision of Cossinae and small Zeuzerinae from Australia (Lepidoptera: Cossidae),
Zootaxa,
3454 (2012), p. 24.
Adam White,
Notes on some insects from King George's Sound,
in George Grey (ed.):
Journals of Two Expeditions of Discovery in North-west and Western Australia,
London : T. & W. Boone, Volume 2, Part vii, p. 477, No. 9, Illustr. 26.
caterpillar | butterflies | Lepidoptera | moths | caterpillar |
(updated 8 December 2010, 10 February 2020)