| Lizard Moth GRACILLARIINAE, GRACILLARIIDAE, GRACILLARIOIDEA | (donherbisonevans@yahoo.com) and Stella Crossley |
(Photo: courtesy of
Harold McQueen,
Goodna, Queensland)
|
| Lizard Moth GRACILLARIINAE, GRACILLARIIDAE, GRACILLARIOIDEA | (donherbisonevans@yahoo.com) and Stella Crossley |
(Photo: courtesy of
Harold McQueen,
Goodna, Queensland)
The adult moths are pale brown with a series of off-white chevron marking along each forewing. At the tip of each forewing is a yellow spot containing dark dash, looking remarkably like an eye. The thorax is covered by a double crest of long white scales. The whole posture and coloration resemble a lizard facing the opposite way to the moth. The wingspan is about 1 cm.
Species in the genus Epicephala are all symbionts with PHYLLANTHACEAE. The adult moths pollinate the flowers, and the caterpillars feed on flowers and fruit.
The species has been found in
Further reading:
A. Kawakita and M. Kato,
Obligate pollination mutualism in Breynia (Phyllanthaceae):
further documentation of pollination mutualism involving Epicephala moths (Gracillariidae)
American Journal of Botany,
Volume 91, Part 9 (September 2004), pp. 1319-1325
Jing Zhang, Shuxia Wang, Houhun Li, Bingbing Hu, Xiaofei Yang, and Zhibo Wang,
Diffuse coevolution between two Epicephala species (Gracillariidae) and two Breynia species (Phyllanthaceae),
PLoS One.,
Volume 7, Part 7 (27 July 2012), e41657.
 caterpillar |  butterflies |  Lepidoptera |  moths |  caterpillar |
(written 4 April 2018)