Fraus nanus (Herrich-Schaffer, 1853)
 (formerly known as Epiolus naus)
Slender Fraus
HEPIALIDAE,   HEPIALOIDEA
 
Don Herbison-Evans
(donherbisonevans@yahoo.com)
and
Stella Crossley

Fraus nanus
male
(Photo: courtesy of Axel Kallies, Moths of Victoria: Part 6)

The adult moths are pale to medium brown, with variable pale markings on the forewings. The females have a dark tuft of hairs at the base of each hindwing. The male moths have a wingspan of about 2.5 cms. The female moths have a wingspan of about 3 cms.

Fraus nanus
(Photo: courtesy of Cathy Powers, Brisbane Ranges, Victoria)

The species has been found in

  • New South Wales,
  • Victoria,
  • Tasmania, and
  • South Australia.

    Further reading :

    Axel Kallies,
    Moths of Victoria - Part 6,
    Ghost Moths - HEPIALIDAE and Allies    ,
    Entomological Society of Victoria, 2015, pp. 6-11.

    Gottlieb August Wilhelm Herrich-Schäffer,
    Sammlung neuer oder wenig bekannter aussereuropäischer Schmetterlinge,
    Verzeichniss der in diesem Werke gelieferten Arten nach Reihenfolge ihrer Veroffentlichung,
    Series I, Volume 1, Part 3 (1855), p. 78, and Plate 10, fig. 46.

    Ebbe Nielsen & Niels Peder Kristensen
    Primitive Ghost Moths : Morphology and Taxonomy of the Australian Genus Fraus Walker (Lepidoptera: Hepialidae s. lat.)
    Monographs on Australian Lepidoptera Volume 1,
    CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne, 1989.

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    (written 15 December 2016, updated 2 January 2017, 10 April 2021)