Metura falcata Beaver, 2020
Lord Howe Case-moth
 PSYCHIDAE,   TINEOIDEA
 
Don Herbison-Evans
(donherbisonevans@yahoo.com)
and
Stella Crossley

Metura falcata
(Photo: courtesy of Ethan Beaver, Lord Howe Island)

The Caterpillar of this species lives in silk case decorated sparsely with short sticks aligned roughly parallel to the case axis. The case grows to a length of about 10 cms.

The caterpillar has been thought to have been feeding on:

  • Wood Iris ( Dietes robinsoniana, IRIDACEAE ) and
  • Lord Howe Paperbark ( Melaleuca howeana, MYRTACEAE ).

    falcata
    (Photo: courtesy of Ethan Beaver, Lord Howe Island)

    The adult moth is basically brown, with yellow hairs on the head and rings of dark brown hairs between the segments of the abdomen. The wingspan is about 4 cms.

    Metura falcata
    underside
    (Photo: courtesy of Ethan Beaver, Lord Howe Island)

    The species has been found Australia only on

  • Lord Howe Island.

    Further reading :

    Ethan Beaver,
    Revision of the genus Metura (Lepidoptera: Psychidae) with description of two new species,
    Zootaxa,
    Volume 4861, Part 2 (October 2020), pp. 188-210.

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    (written 18 October 2020, updated 19 July 2024)