Endoxyla decoratus (Swinhoe, 1892)
 (previously known as: Xyleutes decorata)
ZEUZERINAE,   COSSIDAE,   COSSOIDEA
 
Don Herbison-Evans
(donherbisonevans@yahoo.com)
and
Stella Crossley


(Photo: courtesy of Pam Farrell, Geraldton, Western Australia)

The adult moths of this species are black, with rows of overlapping white spots on the forewings. The females have brown hindwings, and the males have white hindwings.


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

The abdomen is black with white bands. The thorax is black with white shoulders. The wingspan is can reach 12 cms.


underside
(Photo: courtesy of Mark Heath, Victoria Rock, Western Australia)

The species has been found in

  • Queensland, and
  • Western Australia.

    The adult moths have only vestigial degenerate mouth-parts, like all COSSIDAE, so cannot feed.


    close-up, underside of head
    (Photo: courtesy of Mark Heath, Victoria Rock, Western Australia)

    Further reading :

    Ian F.B. Common,
    Moths of Australia, Melbourne University Press, 1990, p. 272.

    Charles Swinhoe,
    Sphinges and Bombyces,
    Catalogue of eastern and Australian Lepidoptera Heterocera in the collection of the Oxford University Museum,
    Clarendon Press, Part 1 (1892), p. 281, No. 1300.

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    (updated 6 March 2008, 16 May 2022)