Garrha demotica (Meyrick, 1883)
(previously known as Euryplaca demotica)
WINGIA GROUP,   OECOPHORINAE,   OECOPHORIDAE,   GELECHIOIDEA
 
Don Herbison-Evans,
(donherbisonevans@yahoo.com)
and
Stella Crossley

Garrha demotica

This Caterpillar has been found in Sydney and Melbourne feeding on :

  • Gum Trees ( Eucalyptus, MYRTACEAE ),

    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.

    Garrha demotica

    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.

    Garrha demotica
    (Specimen: courtesy of the Macleay Museum, University of Sydney)

    The species is found in south-eastern Australia, including:

  • New South Wales,
  • Victoria,
  • Tasmania, and
  • South Australia.


    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.


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    (updated 12 March 2011, 16 September 2013, 10 January 2015, 27 January 2021, 27 April 2022)