Oncopera alpina Tindale, 1933
Alpine Corby
HEPIALIDAE,   HEPIALOIDEA
 
Don Herbison-Evans
(donherbisonevans@yahoo.com)
and
Stella Crossley

Oncopera alpina
(Photo: courtesy of Susan Wishart, Namadgi National Park, Australian Capital Territory)

The Caterpillars of this species live underground, feeding on the roots of Australian native alpine grasses, including

  • Snow Grass ( Poa sieberiana, POACEAE ).

    Oncopera alpina
    (Photo: courtesy of CSIRO/BIO Photography Group, Centre for Biodiversity Genomics, Australian Capital Territory)

    The adult moths have dark brown forewings, each displaying a pale brown network of wide sinuous lines. The hindwings are plain dark brown. The wingspan of both sexes is about 4 cms.

    The species is found in the mountains, on the borders of:

  • New South Wales,
  • Australian Capital Territory>, and
  • Victoria.

    Oncopera alpina
    male, monochrome grey-scale photo by Norman B. Tindale
    , digitally tinted,
    Revision of the Australian Ghost Moths (Lepidoptera Homoneura, Family Hepialidae),
    Records of the South Australian Museum, Volume 5 (1933), p. 29, fig. 43,
    image courtesy of Biodiversity Heritage Library, digitized by South Australian Museum.


    Further reading :

    Ian F.B. Common,
    Moths of Australia, Melbourne University Press, 1990, Pl. 2.8, p. 149.

    Axel Kallies,
    Moths of Victoria - Part 6,
    Ghost Moths - HEPIALIDAE and Allies
    ,
    Entomological Society of Victoria, 2015, pp. 16-17.

    Thomas J. Simonsen,
    Splendid Ghost Moths and their Allies,
    A Revision of Australian Abantiades, Oncopera, Aenetus, Archaeoaenetus and Zelotypia (Hepialidae),
    Monographs on Australian Lepidoptera Volume 12,
    CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne, 2018, pp. 36, 44, etc.

    Norman B. Tindale,
    Revision of the Australian ghost moths (Lepidoptera Homoneura, Family Hepialidae). Part II,
    Records of the South Australian Museum,
    Volume 5 (1933), pp. 27-29, and figs. 40-47.


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    (written 16 October 2016, updated 10 December 2023)