It lines its boreholes with a silk tube which projects from the tunnel and has a silk cap.

(Photo: courtesy of Katy Macknay, Mt Helena, Western Australia)

The adult moth has white forewings tending to yellow at the margin, with a black latticework pattern on them. The hindwings are brown. The moth has a wingspan of about 2 cms.

male, drawing by Felder & Rogenhofer, listed as Tinea clathrata,
Reise der Osterreichischen Fregatte Novara,
Band 2, Abtheilung 2 (5) (1875), Plate CXL, fig. 30,
image courtesy of Biodiversity Heritage Library, digitized by Smithsonian Libraries.

The species has been found in the south of

Further reading :

Rudolf Felder & Alois F. Rogenhofer,
Zoologisher Theil,
Reise der Osterreichischen Fregatte Novara,
Band 2, Abtheilung 2 (5) (1875), p. 19, and also Plate 140, fig 30.

Gaden S. Robinson & Ebbe S. Nielsen,
Tineid Genera of Australia, Monographs on Australian Lepidoptera Volume 2,
CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne 1993.

Paul Zborowski and Ted Edwards,
A Guide to Australian Moths,
CSIRO Publishing, 2007, p. 51.

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(updated 12 September 2012, 12 November 2025)