Cryptoblabes hemigypsa Turner, 1913
Macadamia Flower Caterpillar
 (sometimes misidentified as Homoeosoma vagella Zeller, 1848)
PHYCITINAE,   PYRALIDAE,   PYRALOIDEA
 
Don Herbison-Evans
(donherbisonevans@yahoo.com)
and
Stella Crossley


(Photo: courtesy of Dianne Clarke, Maleny, Queensland)

The caterpillars of this species are a pest, attacking various species in PROTEACEAE, including :

  • Macadamia Nuts ( Macadamia integrifolia ) and
  • Spider Flowers ( Grevillea ).

    Young caterpillars feed inside the flower buds. As the caterpillars mature, they feed on the outside of buds and flowers.

    They pupate in a silk cocoon among the leaf litter.


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

    The adult moths have patchy spotty greyish-brown forewings, and white hindwings with dark veins. The moths have a wingspan of about 1 cm.

    The species has been found in

  • Queensland, and
  • New South Wales.

    Further Reading:

    Marianne Horak,
    Identity of Two Phycitine Pests on Macadamia (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae: Phycitinae),
    Australian Journal of Entomology,
    Volume 33, Issue 3 (August 1994), pp. 235–244.

    A. Jefferis Turner,
    Studies in Australian Lepidoptera, Pyralidae.,
    Proceedings of the Royal Society of Queensland,
    Volume 24 (1913), p. 128.

    previous
    back
    caterpillar
    Australian
    Australian Butterflies
    butterflies
    Australian
    home
    Lepidoptera
    Australian
    Australian Moths
    moths
    next
    next
    caterpillar

    (written 15 October 2001, updated 3 December 2023)