Oxycanus rufescens Walker, 1856
 (one synonym : Pielus invarius Walker, 1865)
Dry-country Oxycanus
HEPIALIDAE,   HEPIALOIDEA
 
Don Herbison-Evans
(donherbisonevans@yahoo.com)
and
Stella Crossley

Oxycanus rufescens
(Photo: courtesy of Joan Fearn, Moruya, New South Wales)

The adult moths have rusty brown forewings with a number of white spots with dark outlines. The hindwings are pinkish. The abdomen is banded.

Oxycanus rufescens
(Photo: courtesy of Elaine McDonald, Nicholls Rivulet, Tasmania)

The underside is plain rusty-brown.

Oxycanus rufescens
underside
(Photo: courtesy of Elaine McDonald, Nicholls Rivulet, Tasmania)

The species has been found in :

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

    Oxycanus rufescens
    close-up of head
    (Photo: courtesy of Elaine McDonald, Nicholls Rivulet, Tasmania)

    Further reading :

    Axel Kallies,
    Moths of Victoria - Part 6,
    Ghost Moths - HEPIALIDAE and Allies    ,
    Entomological Society of Victoria, 2015, pp. 28-29.

    Francis Walker,
    Catalogue of Lepidoptera Heterocera,
    List of the Specimens of Lepidopterous Insects in the Collection of the British Museum,
    Part 7 (1856), p. 1575, No. 3.

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    (updated 16 July 2010, 24 May 2019, 4 May 2021)