Thema macroscia (Meyrick, 1889) (previously known as Pleurota macroscia) CHEZALA GOUP OECOPHORINAE,   OECOPHORIDAE,   GELECHIOIDEA

Don Herbison-Evans, (donherbisonevans@yahoo.com) and Stella Crossley

(Photo: courtesy of Donald Hobern, Aranda, Australian Capital Territory)

The Caterpillar of this species feeds on fallen dead leaves.

(oops: missing one labial palp)
(Photo: courtesy of Alison Milton, Higgins, Australian Capital Territory)

The adult moth has pale yellow forewings each with several dark brown markings, including a dark brown sub-costal stripe, a submarginal band, and a jagged stripe along the hind margin The hindwings are plain brown. The wingspan is about 1.5 cms.

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

The moth has a pair of hairy labial palps, each as long as the thorax, usually held extended out in front of the head, each palp ending in a curved spine held at right angles.

The species has been found in:

Australian Capital Territory.

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Further reading :

Ian F.B. Common,
Moths of Australia,
Melbourne University Press, 1990, fig. 22.4, p. 224.

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. 173-177.

Edward Meyrick,
Descriptions of Australian Micro-Lepidoptera. XI. Oecophoriidae,
Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales,
Series 2, Volume 3, Part 3 (1889), p. 1651.

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(updated 1 November 2012, 18 October 2018)