Enchesphora lithochlora

Enchesphora lithochlora (Lower, 1896)
Tube Caterpillar
(formerly known as Epipaschia lithochlora)
EPIPASCHIINAE, PYRALIDAE, PYRALOIDEA

Don Herbison-Evans
(donherbisonevans@yahoo.com)
and
Stella Crossley

(Photo: courtesy of the Photography Group, Centre for Biodiversity Genomics, University of Guelph, listed as Enchesphora lithochlora)

The Caterpillar of this species feeds on:

Blake Paperbark ( Melaleuca quinquenervia, MYRTACEAE ).

The caterpillars live in tough silk tubes in a communal web of leaves joined by silk.

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

The adult moth has a pattern of various shades greyish brown. The moth has a wingspan of about 3 cms.

The species is being studied by a cooperative of a number of US and Australian bodies, including the Agricultural Research Service in USA, as a possible control agent for Blake Paperbark, which has become a pest outside Australia, particularly in Florida.

The species is found endemically in

Western Australia,

Queensland, and

New South Wales.

Some taxonomists consider that the genus Enchesphora is a senior synonym of Poliopaschia, and so list the moth as Enchesphora lithochlora.