Ctenomeristis almella (Meyrick, 1879)
Almella Frass Moth
 (previously known as Odontasthria almella)
PHYCITINAE,   PYRALIDAE,   PYRALOIDEA
 
Don Herbison-Evans
(donherbisonevans@yahoo.com)
and
Pat and Mike Coupar
and
Stella Crossley

Ctenomeristis almella
(Photo: from "Flying Colours", Coupar & Coupar, 1992)

This smooth Caterpillar is usually green when young, later becoming brown. It feeds on:

  • Native Cherry ( Exocarpos cupressiformis, SANTALACEAE ),

    living in a solitary shelter of silk and droppings on the foodplant. It grows to a length of about 2 cms.

    It pupates in its shelter.

    Ctenomeristis almella
    (Photo: courtesy of Donald Hobern, Aranda, Australian Capital Territory)

    The adult has brown or grey wings, the forewings with a pattern of wiggly dark lines, and the hind wings plain. It has long legs. The moth has a wingspan of about 3 cms.

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

    The species has been found in:

  • Queensland,
  • New South Wales,
  • Australian Capital Territory,
  • Victoria,
  • Tasmania,
  • South Australia, and
  • Western Australia.

    Further reading :

    Pat and Mike Coupar,
    Flying Colours,
    New South Wales University Press, Sydney 1992, p. 84.

    Edward Meyrick,
    Descriptions of Australian Micro-lepidoptera. I. Crambites,
    Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales,
    Volume 3, Part 3 (1879), pp. 210-211.

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    (updated 24 June 2010, 15 January 2021, 21 April 2022)