Snellenia lineata (Walker, 1856) (previously known as Tinaegeria lineata) STATHMOPODIDAE,   GELECHIOIDEA

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

(Photo: courtesy of Nick Monaghan, in Warrandyte State Park, Victoria)

These adult moths have brown forewings with black veins. The hindwings are black with brown bases. The thorax is brown, and the abdomen is black. The antennae have filamentous tips. The wingspan is about 1.5 cms.

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

The moths feed at flowers, often accompanying Metriorrhynchus Lycid beetles, which they appear to mimic, and which are poisonous.

The species is found over south-eastern Australia, including

Victoria.

showing undersides of the hindwings
(Photo: courtesy of Donald Hobern, Burrill Lake, New South Wales)

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Further reading :

Ian F.B. Common,
Moths of Australia,
Melbourne University Press, 1990, pl. 5.1, p. 226.

Francis Walker,
Part III Lepidoptera Heterocera,
List of the Specimens of Lepidopterous Insects in the Collection of the British Museum,
Volume 8 (1856), p. 261.

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(updated 31 March 2013, 18 January 2015, 25 November 2020)