Olbonoma leptospila (Meyrick, 1889)
(formerly known as Ocystola leptospila)
CHEZALA GOUP
OECOPHORINAE,   OECOPHORIDAE,   GELECHIOIDEA
 
Don Herbison-Evans,
(donherbisonevans@yahoo.com)
and
Stella Crossley

Olbonoma leptospila
(Photo: courtesy of Ian McMillan, Imbil, Queensland)

These Caterpillars feed on dead leaves of

  • Gum Trees ( Eucalyptus species, MYRTACEAE ).

    The caterpillars live in galleries of silk, frass, and soil between two joined leaves in leaf litter. They pupate in a silk coccoon in amongst the litter.

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

    The adult moths of this species have pale yellow head, with dark brown colouring the thorax and the basal half of the costa. The forewings are pale yellow each with variable dark markings. Some have just two brown dots near the middle, and a sometimes broken semi-circular brown arc around, and brown line along, the margin. There is variable dark shading along the forewing hind-margin The hindwings are pale brown fading towards the bases. The wingspan is about 1.5 cms.

    The species has been found in:

  • Queensland,
  • New South Wales,
  • Victoria, and
  • Western Australia.


    Further reading :

    Ian F.B. Common,
    Oecophorine Genera of Australia II: The Chezala, Philobota and Eulechria groups (Lepidoptera: Oecophoridae),
    Monographs on Australian Lepidoptera Volume 5,
    CSIRO Publishing, 1997, pp. 226-227.

    Edward Meyrick,
    Descriptions of Australian Micro-Lepidoptera. XV. Oecophoridae (continued),
    Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales,
    Series 2, Volume 3 (1889), pp. 1654-1655.


    previous
    back
    caterpillar
    Australian
    Australian Butterflies
    butterflies
    Australian
    home
    Lepidoptera
    Australian
    Australian Moths
    moths
    next
    next
    caterpillar

    (written 25 October 2014, updated 25 October 2018, 12 January 2021)