Eucalyptus Leafroller (possible synonym: Spilonota brachytycha Turner, 1946) EUCOSMINI, OLETHREUTINAE, TORTRICIDAE, TORTRICOIDEA | (donherbisonevans@yahoo.com) and Stella Crossley |
(Photo: courtesy of
Paul Whittington,
Wonboyn, New South Wales)
The Caterpillar of this species is green with a brown head and collar. The tail segment has a dark U-shaped mark. Each segment has four small white dorsal warts. The caterpillars feed on:
and so are a pest in Eucalyptus plantations. The caterpillars feed on the surface of leaves.
The caterpillars live in a shelter of crumpled leaves held together with silk. The caterpillars become darker as they mature, and the head becomes yellow. The body turns orange and yellow in the last instar.
They pupate in under bark or in a curled leaf or in ground debris. The female pupa appears to have one less abdominal segment than the male.
The adult moth has brown stippled forewings. The male usually has a broad pale wavy area along the costa of each forewing.
The female typically has a broad pale wavy area along the hind margin of each forewing. The hindwings are pale brown with dark veins.
The species has been found in:
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.
Peter B. McQuillan, Jan A. Forrest, David Keane, & Roger Grund,
Caterpillars, moths, and their plants of Southern Australia,
Butterfly Conservation South Australia Inc., Adelaide (2019), p. 65.
Edward Meyrick,
Descriptions of Australian Micro-lepidoptera VI: Tortricina,
Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales,
Series 1, Volume 6, Part 3 (1881), p. 683, No. 3.
caterpillar | butterflies | Lepidoptera | moths | caterpillar |
(updated 2 June 2011, 24 May 2023)