Prepocosma schalidota (Meyrick, 1888)
 (one synonym: Sphyrelata dichroa Lower, 1894)
PHILOBOTA GROUP
OECOPHORINAE,   OECOPHORIDAE,   GELECHIOIDEA
 
Don Herbison-Evans,
(donherbisonevans@yahoo.com)
and
Stella Crossley

Prepocosma schalidota
(Photo: courtesy of Graeme Cocks, Townsville, Queensland)

The adult moths of this species have white forewings with brown bands across them. The hindwings are brown. The wingspan is about 1.5 cms.

Prepocosma schalidota
(Photo: courtesy of Geoff Byrnes, Broome, Western Australia)

The adult moth has an unusual resting posture with the hind legs lifted off the surface.

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

The species has been found in Australia in:

  • Western Australia,
  • Northern Territory, and
  • Queensland.

    Prepocosma schalidota
    showing undersides
    (Photo: courtesy of Geoff Byrnes, Broome, Western Australia)

    Further reading :

    Ian F.B. Common,
    Oecophorine Genera of Australia II: The Chezala, Philobota and Eulechria groups (Lepidoptera: Oecophoridae),
    Monographs on Australian Lepidoptera Volume 5,
    CSIRO Publishing, 1997, pp. 315, 319.

    Oswald B. Lower,
    New Australian Heterocera,
    Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia,
    Volume 18, p. 95.

    Edward Meyrick,
    Descriptions of Australian Micro-Lepidoptera,
    Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales
    Series 2, Volume II, Number 4 (1888), p. 955.

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    (written 5 November 2012, updated 25 October 2018, 10 May 2019)