WINGIA GROUP, OECOPHORINAE, OECOPHORIDAE, GELECHIOIDEA | (donherbisonevans@yahoo.com) and Stella Crossley |
(Photo: Don Herbison-Evans, Concord, New South Wales)
These Caterpillars are thought to feed on the green foliage of various trees in the family MYRTACEAE, including:
The young caterpillar erects a tall narrow silk shelter covered in frass on top of a leaf. Later it cuts the leaf, and rolls part of it over to make a tubular shelter.
The caterpillar pupates in its shelter.
The adult moth has white forewings with three broad transverse black bands edged with orange. The hindwings are yellow, sometimes with a dark brown margin. The moth has a wingspan of about 2 cms.
The species is found in the south-eastern quarter of mainland Australia, including:
Further reading :
Ian F.B. Common,
Moths of Australia,
Melbourne University Press, 1990, pl. 4.17, p. 224.
Ian F.B. Common,
Oecophorine Genera of Australia I:
The Wingia Group (Lepidoptera: Oecophoridae),
Monographs on Australian Lepidoptera Volume 3,
CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne 1994, pp. 145, 148.
Edward Meyrick,
Descriptions of Australian Micro-Lepidotera XV Oecophoridae (continued),
Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales,
Series 2, Volume III (1888), p. 1597.
caterpillar | butterflies | Lepidoptera | moths | caterpillar |
(updated 1 November 2012, 11 November 2020)