Hypertropha tortriciformis (Guenée, 1852)
(one synonym: Anthoecia divitiosa Walker, 1865)
HYPERTROPHIDAE,   GELECHIOIDEA
 
Don Herbison-Evans
(donherbisonevans@yahoo.com)
and
Stella Crossley

Hypertropha tortriciformis

This Caterpillar is brown with cream bands along its back and sides.

Hypertropha tortriciformis
lacy tunnel

The caterpillar hides in a lacy tunnel formed of strings of frass held together with silk.

Hypertropha tortriciformis
close-up of head of caterpillar in lacy tunnel
(Photo: courtesy of Helen Cross, Kambah, Australian Capital Territory)

It feeds on new shoots of various sorts of:

  • Gum Trees ( Angophora and Eucalyptus, MYRTACEAE ).

    Hypertropha tortriciformis

    The caterpillar grows to a length of about 2 cms. When ready to pupate, it leaves its lacy shelter, and crawls along a leaf, and attaches itself to the leaf by a cremaster. The pupa when formed sticks out from the leaf, unprotected by a cocoon.

    Hypertropha tortriciformis

    The adult moth has brown forewings, each with a pale speckled transverse line, and several dark spots and patches. The hindwings are bright yellow with black margins. The moth has a wingspan of about 2 cms.

    Hypertropha tortriciformis
    (Photo: courtesy of Marko Mutanen )

    The species has been found in

  • New Guinea

    as well as in Australia in

  • Northern Territory,
  • Queensland,
  • New South Wales,
  • Australian Capital Territory,
  • Victoria,
  • Tasmania,
  • South Australia, and
  • Western Australia.


    Further reading :

    Ian F.B. Common,
    Moths of Australia, Melbourne University Press, 1990, pl. 4.1, p. 236.

    Achille Guenée,
    Noctuélites,
    in Boisduval & Guenée: Histoire naturelle des insectes; spécies général des lépidoptères,
    Volume 9, Part 6 (1852), p. 198, No. 964.


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    (updated 31 March 2011, 23 November 2021, 1 March 2022)