Hemibela tyranna (Meyrick, 1885)
(previously known as Ocystola tyranna)
WINGIA GROUP,   OECOPHORINAE,   OECOPHORIDAE,   GELECHIOIDEA
 
Don Herbison-Evans,
(donherbisonevans@yahoo.com)
and
Stella Crossley

Hemibela tyranna
(Photo: courtesy of Graeme Cocks, Townsville, Queensland)

The Caterpillars of this species live in a hollowed out twig which they carry around. As they grow they change to bigger twigs. The caterpillars feed on various species of

  • Gum Trees ( Eucalyptus species, MYRTACEAE ).

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

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

    The adult moths have brown forewings each with three pale spots near the base, and an orange fringe of hairs along the margin. The hindwings are pale yellow with dark veins, and darkening toward the margins. The forewings each have a recurved wingtip, and the hindwings each have a pointed wingtip with hardly any corner at the tornus. The wingspan is about 2 cms.

    The species has been found in :

  • Queensland,
  • New South Wales,
  • South Australia, and
  • Western 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. 323-329.

    Edward Meyrick,
    Descriptions of Australian Micro-Lepidoptera. XII. Oecophoridae - (Continued),
    Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales,
    Volume 9, Number 4 (1885), pp. 1068-1069.


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    (updated 6 August 2010, 10 January 2015, 27 July 2019, 1 November 2020)