Euchaetis rhizobola Meyrick, 1888
OECOPHORINAE ,   OECOPHORIDAE

Don Herbison-Evans ( donherbisonevans@yahoo.com )
&
Stella Crossley

Euchaetis rhizobola

This Caterpillar is green with white intersegmental rings. It lives in a tubular silk shelter that it spins in a curled leaf of its food plant. It feeds on :

  • various species of Gum Trees ( MYRTACEAE ).

    The Caterpillar grows to a length of about 3 cms.

    Euchaetis rhizobola
    (Specimen: courtesy of Donald Hobern, Aranda)

    The adult moth has rusty brown fore wings with a metallic silver pattern consisting of curved arcs along the costa and a subterminal dotted line. The hind wings are silky white. Each wing has a hairy fringe. The moths have a wing span of about 3 cms.

    Euchaetis rhizobola
    (Specimen: courtesy of the Macleay Museum, University of Sydney)

    The species may be found over much of Australia, including:

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

    Euchaetis rhizobola
    underside
    (Photo: courtesy of Graeme Cocks, Townsville)

    Further reading :

    Ian F.B. Common,
    Moths of Australia, Melbourne University Press, 1990, pl. 23.14, p. 222.

    Ian F.B. Common,
    Oecophorine Genera of Australia I:
    The Wingia Group (Lepidoptera: Oecophoridae)
    Monographs on Australian Lepidoptera Volume 3,
    CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne 1994, pp. 266,268,270

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    (updated 3 November 2012)