(previously known as Euryplaca demotica) WINGIA GROUP, OECOPHORINAE, OECOPHORIDAE, GELECHIOIDEA | (donherbisonevans@yahoo.com) and Stella Crossley |
This Caterpillar has been found in Sydney and Melbourne feeding on :
and living in a portable case made from oval pieces of foodplant leaves joined with silk. If disturbed, the caterpillar drops on a thread. It is green with dark red speckles, and a brown head capsule. The darkness of the head capsule appears to vary with age, sometimes dark, sometimes light. The caterpillar grows to a length of about 1 cm.
The caterpillars pupate in their case.
It produces a little pinkish brown moth, with a row of dark dots along the margin and three dark spots on each forewing. The hindwings are cream with an orange tinge. The antennae are noticeably banded. The moth has a wingspan of about 2 cms.
The species is found in south-eastern Australia, including:
Further reading :
Ian F.B. Common,
Moths of Australia,
Melbourne University Press, 1990, pl. 4.22, p. 224.
Ian F.B. Common,
Oecophorine Genera of Australia I:
The Wingia Group (Lepidoptera: Oecophoridae),
Monographs on Australian Lepidoptera Volume 3,
CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne 1994, p. 300.
Edward Meyrick,
Descriptions of Australian Micro-Lepidoptera, VIII Oecophoridae,
Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales,
Volume 7, Part 4 (1883), pp. 489-490, No. 52.
caterpillar | butterflies | Lepidoptera | moths | caterpillar |
(updated 12 March 2011, 16 September 2013, 10 January 2015, 27 January 2021, 27 April 2022)