Epicephala trigonophora (Turner, 1900)
 (previously known as Ornix trigonophora)
GRACILLARIINAE,   GRACILLARIIDAE,   GRACILLARIOIDEA
 
Don Herbison-Evans,
(donherbisonevans@yahoo.com)
and
Stella Crossley


(Specimen: courtesy of Ian McMillan Imbil, Queensland)

Species in the genus Epicephala are all symbionts with

  • PHYLLANTHACEAE.

    The Caterpillars feed on flowers and fruit, and the adult moths pollinate the flowers.


    (Specimen: courtesy of the The Australian Museum)

    The adult moths have a fringe along the trailing edge of each wing. The forewings have a pattern of light and dark brown chevrons. The hindwings are a uniform dark brown. Its wingspan is about 1 cm.

    The species has been found in

  • Queensland, and
  • New South Wales.

    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

    A. Jefferis Turner,
    New Micro-lepidoptera — mostly from Queensland,
    Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia,
    Volume 24 (1900), p. 21.

    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.

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    (updated 7 October 2001, 9 September 2018)