(previously known as Piloprepes lophoptera) WINGIA GROUP, OECOPHORINAE, OECOPHORIDAE, GELECHIOIDEA | (donherbisonevans@yahoo.com) and Stella Crossley |
(Photo: courtesy of Buck Richardson, Kuranda, Queensland)
The Caterpillars of this species live communally in a shelter constructed from live leaves of the foodplant joined by silk and decorated with frass. The caterpillars have been found feeding on the foliage of
The silk cocoon is formed inside a rolled piece of leaf, and attached to stick out at right angles to a branch.
The forewings of the adult moth are white with shadowy patches, and each has a dark brown area at the base. The hindwings are plain off-white. The thorax and head are white. The wingspan is about 2 cms.
The species has been found in
Further reading :
Ian F.B. Common,
Moths of Australia,
Melbourne University Press, 1990, pls. 4.24, 23.15, pp. 223, 487.
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. 24, 29, 148, 217, 221-224.
Oswald B. Lower,
New Australian Heterocera,
Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia,
Volume 18 (1894), p. 96.
Graham McDonald,
Weird and Wonderful Moths,
Butterflies and Other Invertebrates Club
Metamorphosis Australia,
Issue 78 (September 2015), pp. 11-15, fig. 6.
Buck Richardson,
Tropical Queensland Wildlife from Dusk to Dawn Science and Art,
LeapFrogOz, Kuranda, 2015, p. 181.
caterpillar | butterflies | Lepidoptera | moths | caterpillar |
(updated 1 November 2012, 12 July 2024)