Clania ignobilis

Clania ignobilis (Walker, 1869)
Faggot Casemoth
(one synonym : Eumeta ernesti Heylaerts, 1885)
PSYCHIDAE, TINEOIDEA

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

Clania ignobilis
(Specimen: courtesy of the Macleay Museum, University of Sydney)

These Caterpillars live and pupate in a silken case. to which they attach twigs parallel to the axis of the case. Ian Common notes that the larval case of this species has all the attached twigs of uniform length, except for one or sometimes two or three twigs which are cut longer than the others. However John O. Westwood illustrates the case of Clania lewinii as having this feature.

(Photo: courtesy of Vanessa, Tasmania)

The caterpillars normally only protrude the head and thorax out of the case, as these are covered in a hard skin that is coloured in a light and dark brown pattern. The soft abdomen is kept inside the protective case.

(Photo: courtesy of Patricia Gurry, Perth, Western Australia)

The caterpillars seem to prefer feeding on plants in MYRTACEAE such as

Gum Trees ( Eucalyptus species ), and

Apple Guava ( Psidium guajava ),

but they have been reported on plants in other families including

Australian Cypress ( Callitris species, CUPRESSACEAE ),

Monterey Cypress ( Hesperocyparis macrocarpa, CUPRESSACEAE ),

Pine ( Pinus species, PINACEAE ),

and in 2017 were reported to be at pest levels in Melbourne on

Silver Birch ( Betula pendula, BETULACEAE ).

empty pupal shell inside case
(Photo: courtesy of Heather Jordan, Ainslie, Australian Capital Territory)

The case can grow to a length of up to 5 cms.

(Photo: courtesy of Donald Hobern, Blackheath, New South Wales)

The adult male has translucent grey wings, with a wingspan of about 3 cms. The wings easily lose their scales.

(Photo: courtesy of Ian Baird, O'Connor, Australian Capital Territory)

The males have a small white tuft at the base of each forewing. The hindwings have sinuous margins. The head, thorax, and abdomen are hairy, and vary from brown to black.

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

The male moth has a long prehensile abdomen, which is used to fertilise a female inside her case.

The female is wingless and does not even have six true legs. She looks like a tubby off-white grub, with an off-white head. She has a length of about 7 mm. She stays inside the case, and is fertilised by a male inserting the tip of his abdomen into the anal end of the case.

The species is found over much of Australia, including

Queensland,

New South Wales,

Australian Capital Territory,

Victoria,

Tasmania,

South Australia, and

Western Australia.

The species is attacked by a parasitic fly that lays eggs on the foodplant of the caterpillar, which are ingested and hatch inside the caterpillar.

case opened to show pupa of parasitic fly
(Photo: copyright of Brett and Marie Smith, at the Ellura Sanctuary, South Australia)