as well as

mature larva within its gall
also tunnelling downward into Parthenium hysterophorus shoot
(preserved and slightly wrinkled specimen)

In 1982, it was introduced into Australia from Mexico to control the weeds

It has been considered for the same purpose in Canada.

The eggs are very small, and pale in colour. They are laid singly on the leaves of a foodplant. The first instar larva burrows into the leaf to feed. Later, the caterpillar burrows into the centre of a growing shoot, feeding on the terminal meristem, and growing to length of about 1 cm. This induces the plant to thicken the stem, creating an elongated gall, about 1 cm across and with a length of about 2 cms. In this gall, the caterpillar subsequently lives, feeds, and pupates. In due course, the adult moth emerges from the gall from approximately the same position as that at which the caterpillar originally entered the shoot, thus having executed a nifty about-turn inside the gall.

(Photo: courtesy of Allen Barlow, Tennessee, USA)

The adult moths are dark brown with pale markings. The moths have a wingspan of about 1.5 cms.

(Photo: courtesy of the Photography Group, Centre for Biodiversity Genomics, University of Guelph)

The species still occurs in

and in 1990-1993 was proposed for introduction into

(Picture: courtesy of CSIRO)

Although the caterpillar and pupa are attacked by a number of Australian native Lepidoptera parasitoids, the species now occurs in

Further reading :

Ian F.B. Common,
Moths of Australia,
Melbourne University Press, 1990, p. 73.

K. Dhileepan, Catherine J. Lockett, and Rachel E. McFadyen,
Larval parasitism by native insects on the introduced stem-galling moth Epiblema strenuana Walker (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) and its implications for biological control of Parthenium hysterophorus (Asteraceae) ,
Australian Journal of Entomology,
February 2005, vol. 44, no. 1, pp. 83-88.

Francis Walker,
Tortricites & Tineites,
List of the Specimens of Lepidopterous Insects in the Collection of the British Museum,
Part 28 (1863), p. 383, No. 139.

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(updated 11 October 2009, 2 February 2023)