(one synonym is Stathmopoda crocophanes Meyrick, 1897) STATHMOPODINAE, OECOPHORIDAE, GELECHIOIDEA | (donherbisonevans@yahoo.com) and Stella Crossley |
(Photo: courtesy of Wendy Moore, Melbourne, Victoria)
The Caterpillars of this species live in a loose silk shelter on their foodplant. The caterpillars are a minor pest on
but have been found feeding on many other plants, living and dead, from a variety of plant families, including:
The adult moth of this species is yellow with a broad dark brown margin, and an irregular broad dark brown transverse band on each forewing. The hindwings are dark brown with yellow tips. The hind margin of each wing has a hairy fringe wider than the wing itself. The moth has a wingspan of about 1 cm.
The species is found over much of Australia, including
Further reading :
Ian F.B. Common,
Moths of Australia,
Melbourne University Press, 1990, p. 226.
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. 54.
Edward Meyrick,
Descriptions of Australian Micro-Lepidoptera. XVII. Elachistidae,
Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales,
Volume 22, Part 2 (1897), pp. 324-325.
Francis Walker,
Tineites,
List of the Specimens of Lepidopterous Insects in the Collection of the British Museum,
Part 30 (1864), p. 1022, No. 1.
Thomas de Grey, 6th Baron Walsingham,
African Micro-Lepidoptera,
Transactions of the Entomological Society of London,
1891, pp. 121-122, and also
Plate 6, fig. 61.
caterpillar | butterflies | Lepidoptera | moths | caterpillar |
(updated 1 November 2012, 10 January 2015, 20 January 2016)