Chrysonoma fascialis (Fabricius, 1775)
 (one synonym: Oecophora bimaculella Newman, 1856)
WINGIA GROUP,   OECOPHORINAE,   OECOPHORIDAE,   GELECHIOIDEA
 
Don Herbison-Evans,
(donherbisonevans@yahoo.com)
and
Stella Crossley

Chrysonoma fascialis
(Photo: courtesy of Joel Johnson, Rockhampton, Queensland)

These Caterpillars are off white with a black wart on each side of the first two abdominal segments. The caterpillars also have some brown markings on the head and thorax.

Chrysonoma fascialis
head close-up
(Photo: courtesy of Joel Johnson, Rockhampton, Queensland)

The caterpillars live in flat cases, made from two bits of leaf joined with silk, which they carry around with them.

Chrysonoma fascialis
caterpillar case
(Photo: courtesy of Joel Johnson, Rockhampton, Queensland)

The caterpillars feed on:

  • Gum Trees ( Eucalyptus species ), and
  • Australian Box ( Lophostemon species ),

    both in MYRTACEAE.

    Chrysonoma fascialis
    (Photo: courtesy of Jeff Keyes, Sportsman Creek Wildlife Refuge, New South Wales)

    The adult moths have yellow forewings, each with three dark purplish-brown stripes. The hindwings are rusty-brown. The wingspan is about 2 cms.

    Chrysonoma fascialis
    (Photo: courtesy of Joel Johnson, Rockhampton, Queensland)

    The species has been found in

  • New Guinea,

    as well as in Australia in :

  • Western Australia,
  • Northern Territory,
  • Queensland,
  • New South Wales,
  • Australian Capital Territory,
  • Victoria,
  • Tasmania, and
  • South Australia.

    Chrysonoma fascialis
    male, drawing by Felder & Rogenhofer, listed as Oecophora bimaculana    ,
    Reise der Osterreichischen Fregatte Novara,
    Band 2, Abtheilung 2 (5) (1875), Plate CXXXVIII fig. 48,
    image courtesy of Biodiversity Heritage Library, digitized by Smithsonian Libraries.

    This species was the first of the Oecophorinae from Australia to be named (in 1775).

    Further reading :

    Ian F.B. Common,
    Moths of Australia,
    Melbourne University Press, 1990, pl. 4.19, p. 223.

    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. xi, 16, 24, 31, 36, 281, 286-290.

    Johan Christian Fabricius,
    Historiae Natvralis Favtoribvs,
    Systema Entomologiae (1775), p. 644, No. 128.

    Graham McDonald,
    Weird and Wonderful Moths,
    Butterflies and Other Invertebrates Club
    Metamorphosis Australia,
    Issue 78 (September 2015), pp. 11-15, fig. 3.

    Rudolf Felder & Alois F. Rogenhofer,
    Zoologisher Theil,
    Reise der Osterreichischen Fregatte Novara,
    Band 2, Abtheilung 2 (5) (1875), list of Plate 138,, and also Plate 138, fig. 48.

    Edward Newman,
    Characters of a few Australian Lepidoptera, Collected by Mr. Thomas R. Oxley,
    Transactions of the Entomological Society of London,
    New Series, Volume III, Number 8 (1856), p. 295, sp. 2.

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    (updated 1 November 2012, 10 January 2015, 7 December 2018, 9 November 2020)