and have also been found feeding on the seeds in the fruit of:

The caterpillars often live communally with several other siblings in the same fruit.

(Photo: Don Herbison-Evans, Bundaberg, Queensland)

It grows to a length of about 1 cm.

(Photo: Don Herbison-Evans, Bundaberg, Queensland)

It often pupates inside the hard cased nut. The pupa also has a length of about 1 cm.

(Photo: Don Herbison-Evans, Bundaberg, Queensland)

The adult moth has dark brown fore wings with a black mark half way along the costa, and a black tip. The hind wings are fawn with dark veins. It has a wing span of about 2 cms.

(Specimen: courtesy of the Macleay Museum, University of Sydney)

The species occurs across the Pacific, including

as well as in Australia in

underside
(Photo: courtesy of Graeme Cocks, Townsville, Queensland)

Further reading

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

A. Jefferis Turner,
A preliminary revision of the Australian Thyrididae and Pyralidae. Part I,
Proceedings of the Royal Society of Queensland,
Volume 18 (1904), pp. 129-130.

previous caterpillar

Australian butterflies

Australian Lepidoptera

Australian moths

next caterpillar

(updated 14 January 2005, 24 January 2013, 14 December 2021)