hollowed twig showing end sealed with silk
(Photo: copyright of Brett and Marie Smith at Ellura Sanctuary, South Australia)

The caterpillars pupate in their twig, anchoring it to a branch or convenient object.

hollowed twig showing empty pupal case after the adult moth has emerged
(Photo: copyright of Brett and Marie Smith at Ellura Sanctuary, South Australia)

The adult moths have a yellow head, a brown thorax, and forewings that are half brown and half yellow, with a brown streak along the basal half of the costa. The hindwings are plain dark brown. The wingspan is about 1.5 cms.

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

The species has been found in :

moth underside
(Photo: copyright of Brett and Marie Smith at Ellura Sanctuary, South Australia)

Further reading :

Ian F.B. Common,
Oecophorine Genera of Australia I: The Wingia Group (Lepidoptera: Oecophoridae),
Monographs on Australian Lepidoptera Volume 3,
CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne 1994, pp. 323-325, 327, 328.

Edward Meyrick,
Descriptions of Australian Micro-lepidoptera XII Oecophoridae,
Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales,
Series 1, Volume 9, Number 4 (1885), p. 1061.

previous caterpillar

Australian butterflies

Australian Lepidoptera

Australian moths

next caterpillar

(written 23 January 2015, updated 21 March 2018, 16 September 2020)