(possible synonym : Temnolopa metallota Lower, 1901) OLETHREUTINI, OLETHREUTINAE, TORTRICIDAE, TORTRICOIDEA | (donherbisonevans@yahoo.com) and Stella Crossley |
(Photo: courtesy of
Graeme Cocks, Townsville, Queensland)
This caterpillar is a translucent yellowish green. except for the first two pairs of legs which are black. It lives in a silk shelter in a curled leaf or flower of a foodplant. The caterpillar grows to a length of about 2 cms. It feeds on the flowers and leaves of a variety of agricultural crops and garden plants, including:
The brown pupa is formed in a cocoon in a curled leaf.
The adult moth has forewings that are pale brown with various dark markings. The hindwings are plain brown. The moth has a crest of dark scales on the thorax. The wingspan is about 1.5 cms.
The eggs are laid between veins on the undersides of leaves of a foodplant.
The species occurs across south-east Asia and the south Pacific, including
as well as in Australia in:
Further reading:
Marianne Horak and Furumi Komai,
Olethreutine Moths of Australia: (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae),
Monographs on Australian Lepidoptera Series, Volume 10,
CSIRO Publishing, 2006.
Edward Meyrick,
Descriptions of Lepidoptera from the South Pacific,
Transactions of The Entomological Society of London,
1886, p. 275, No. 145.
caterpillar | butterflies | Lepidoptera | moths | caterpillar |
(updated 26 July 2012, 27 January 2024)