The mouth of the tunnel becomes covered in frass. The caterpillars pupate in their tunnels. Before the adult moth emerges from the pupa, the pupa wriggles to be partly out of its tunnel.

empty pupal shell protruding from tunnel
(Photo: courtesy of Axel Kallies, Moths of Victoria: Part 6)

The female adult moths have green forewings, each with some variable pinkish markings. The females have brown hindwings shading to pinkish along the hind margins. The female moths have a wingspan of up to 7 cms.

Male
(Photo: courtesy of Axel Kallies, Moths of Victoria: Part 6)

The male adult moths have brown forewings. The hindwings of the males are orange, with brown wingtips. The male moths have a wingspan of about 4 cms.

The species is found in the mountains of

Further reading :

Axel Kallies,
Moths of Victoria - Part 6,
Ghost Moths - HEPIALIDAE and Allies,
Entomological Society of Victoria, 2015, pp. 14-15.

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.

Norman B. Tindale,
On a new species of Oenetus (Lepidoptera, Family Hepialidae) damaging Eucalyptus saplings in Tasmania,
Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia,
Volume 76 (1953), p. 79,.

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(written 11 December 2016, updated 31 August 2021)