Eulechria melesella (Newman, 1856) (previously known as Depressaria melesella) EULECHRIA GROUP OECOPHORINAE,   OECOPHORIDAE,   GELECHIOIDEA

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

(Photo: courtesy of Wendy Moore, Freshwater Creek, Victoria)

The Caterpillar of this species is expected to feed on dead leaves, as do others in this genus Eulechria, although different species in this genus seem each to prefer different host plants. The caterpillar probably lives in a tubular silk lined gallery, incorporating debris and frass, in amongst the dead leaves.

The caterpillar probably pupates in a larger and looser chamber at one end of the gallery.

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

The forewings of the adult moth of this species are pale brown, each with a scattering of darker brown dashes, inluding an arc of such dashes around the margin. The hindwings are off-white, sometimes shading to brown at the margins. The wingspan is about 2 cms.

The species has been found in

Tasmania.

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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, p. 366.

Edward Newman,
Characters of a few Australian Lepidoptera, Collected by Mr. Thomas R. Oxley,
Transactions of the Entomological Society of London,
New Series, Volume III, Number 8 (1856), p. 291, sp. 1.

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(written 3 February 2017, updated 29 November 2017, 15 August 2020, 5 May 2021)