Palaeotoma styphelana Meyrick, 1881
 (one synonym : Trachyptila melanosticha Turner, 1916)
SCHOENOTENINI,   TORTRICINAE,   TORTRICIDAE,   TORTRICOIDEA
  
Don Herbison-Evans
(donherbisonevans@yahoo.com)
and
Stella Crossley

Palaeotoma styphelana
(Photo: courtesy of David Akers, Won Wron, Victoria)

The Caterpillars of this species are white with a dark brown head. The caterpillars feed inside galls on young shoots of

  • Gum Trees ( Eucalyptus species, MYRTACEAE ).

    The plant grows a gall in response to the caterpillar's nibbles. The galls grow to be irregular cylinders about 5 cms long, about 1 cm diameter.

    Pupation occurs inside the gall.

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

    The adult moths have stippled grey/brown forewings, each with variable short dark streaks. The hindwings are plain grey. The wingspan is about 1.5 cms.

    The species is found in

  • Queensland,
  • New South Wales,
  • Victoria,
  • Tasmania, and
  • South Australia.

    Further reading :

    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. 63.

    Edward Meyrick,
    Descriptions of Australian Micro-lepidoptera. V. Tortricina,
    Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales,
    Series 1, Volume 6, Part 3 (1881), p. 423, No. 1.

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    (written 21 June 2019, updated 10 May 2024)