![]() | Faggot Case Moth (one synonym : Eumeta ernesti Heylaerts, 1885) PSYCHIDAE, TINEOIDEA | (donherbisonevans@yahoo.com) and Stella Crossley |
(Specimen: courtesy of the
Macleay Museum, University of Sydney)
These Caterpillars live and pupate in a silken case. to which they attach twigs parallel to the axis of the case. Ian Common notes that the larval case of this species has all the attached twigs of uniform length, except for one or sometimes two or three twigs which are cut longer than the others. However John O. Westwood illustrates the case of Clania lewinii as having this feature.
The caterpillars normally only protrude the head and thorax out of the case, as these are covered in a hard skin that is coloured in a light and dark brown pattern. The soft abdomen is kept inside the protective case.
The caterpillars seem to prefer feeding on plants in MYRTACEAE such as
but they have been reported on plants in other families including
and in 2017 were reported to be at pest levels in Melbourne on
The case can grow to a length of up to 5 cms.
The adult male has translucent grey wings which easily lose their scales, and a small white tuft at the base of each forewing. The hindwings have sinuous margins. The head, thorax, and abdomen are hairy, and vary from brown to black. The male moth has a long prehensile abdomen, and a wingspan of about 3 cms. The female is wingless.
The species is found over much of Australia, including
The species is attacked by a parasitic fly that lays eggs on the foodplant of the caterpillar, which are ingested and hatch inside the caterpillar.
Further reading :
Ian F.B. Common,
Moths of Australia,
Melbourne University Press, 1990, fig. 19.7, p. 179.
Peter B. McQuillan, Jan A. Forrest, David Keane, & Roger Grund,
Caterpillars, moths, and their plants of Southern Australia,
Butterfly Conservation South Australia Inc., Adelaide (2019), p. 40.
Buck Richardson,
Tropical Queensland Wildlife from Dusk to Dawn Science and Art,
LeapFrogOz, Kuranda, 2015, p. 184.
Francis Walker,
Bombycites,
Characters of undescribed Lepidoptera Heterocera,
E.W. Janson, London (1869), p. 67, No. 7.
![]() caterpillar | ![]() butterflies | ![]() Lepidoptera | ![]() moths | ![]() caterpillar |
(updated 14 January 2013, 27 November 2014, 17 December 2021)