Bactra venosana (Zeller, 1847)
Nutgrass Borer
 (previously known as Phoxopteris venosana)
BACTRINI,   OLETHREUTINAE,   TORTRICIDAE,   TORTRICOIDEA
  
Don Herbison-Evans
(donherbisonevans@yahoo.com)
and
Stella Crossley

Bactra venosana
(Photo: courtesy of Graeme Cocks, Townsville, Queensland)

These Caterpillars bore into and feed on :

  • Nutgrass ( Cyperus rotundus, CYPERACEAE ).

    Bactra venosana
    (Photo: courtesy of CSIRO/BIO Photography Group, Centre for Biodiversity Genomics, University of Guelph)

    The adult moths have grey forewings that have complex brown markings. The hindwings are plain grey. The wingspan is about 1.5 cms.

    The species is native to the area:

  • around the Mediterranean,
    but has been introduced into:
  • Hawaii,
    and now occurs in:
  • Fiji,

    as well as Australia in:

  • Queensland, and
  • New South Wales.

    Further reading :

    Alexey Diakonoff,
    Bactrae,
    The South Asiatic Olethreutini: (Lepidoptera Tortricidae),
    1973, Brill (Leiden). p. 357.

    Marianne Horak and Furumi Komai,
    Olethreutine Moths of Australia: (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae),
    Monographs on Australian Lepidoptera Series, Volume 10,
    CSIRO Publishing, 2006, pp. 207-211.

    Philipp C. Zeller,
    Bemerkungen über die auf einer Reise nach Italien und Sicilien beobachteten Schmetterlingsarten,
    Isis von Oken, Jena,
    Volume 12 (1847), pp. 738-739, No. 301.

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