The female moths only appear to lay eggs on these materials after the materials have previously been infested by other insects.

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

The adult moth has pale brown forewings, each with dark markings including extensive speckles, several brown spots, and a vague dark central streak. The hindwings are silvery grey with brown wingtips. The moths have a wingspan of about 1.5 cms.

It has been reported in :

as well as in Australia in

Further reading :

Ian F.B. Common,
Moths of Australia,
Melbourne University Press, 1990, p. 184.

Carl Linnaeus,
Insecta Lepidoptera,
Systema Naturae,
Edition 10, Volume 1 (1760), Class 5, Part 3, p. 539, No. 276.

Gaden S. Robinson & Ebbe S. Nielsen,
Tineid Genera of Australia,
Monographs on Australian Lepidoptera Volume 2,
CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne 1993, pp. 145, 147-148.

Francis Walker,
Tortricites & Tineites,
List of the Specimens of Lepidopterous Insects in the Collection of the British Museum,
Part 28 (1863), p. 476, No. 74.

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(written 23 May 2019, updated 26 October 2020)