Aenigmatinea glatzella Kristensen & Edwards, 2015
 AENIGMATINEIDAE,   NEOPSEUSTOIDEA
 
Don Herbison-Evans
(donherbisonevans@yahoo.com)
and
Stella Crossley

Aenigmatinea glatzella
caterpillar in borehole, magnified
(Photo: courtesy of Andy Young, Kangaroo Island, South Australia)

The Caterpillar of this species is off-white with a brown head and a corrugated body. The caterpillar has been found boring into a stem of

  • Southern Cypress-pine ( Calitris gracilis, CUPRESSACEAE ).

    The pupa has a spiky 'rasp' cap, with which it bores through an opercula in the larval/pupal cell on emergence.

    Aenigmatinea glatzella
    (Photo: courtesy of Andy Young, Kangaroo Island, South Australia)

    The adult moths have bronzy-purple forewings with gold flecks. The hindwings are dull greyish-black with a little bronzy iridescence. The wingspan is about 0.8 cm.

    The eggs are white and spherical, with a diameter of about 0.1mm. The female moths lay their eggs in a group inside the tips of shoots of a foodplant.

    Aenigmatinea glatzella
    eggs in dissected shoot, magnified
    (Photo: by Gary Taylor, courtesy of Andy Young, Kangaroo Island, South Australia)

    The species has been found in

  • South Australia.

    Further reading :

    N.P. Kristensen, D.J. Hilton, A. Kallies, L. Milla, J. Rota, N. Wahlberg, S.A. Wilcox, R.V. Glatz, D.A. Young, G. Cocking, T. Edwards, G. Gibbs, & M. Halsey,
    A new extant family of primitive moths from Kangaroo Island, Australia, and its significance for understanding early Lepidoptera evolution,
    Systematic Entomology,
    Volume 40 (2015), pp.8-13, figs 1-5.

    previous
    back
    caterpillar
    Australian
    Australian Butterflies
    butterflies
    Australian
    home
    Lepidoptera
    Australian
    Australian Moths
    moths
    next
    next
    caterpillar

    (written 30 March 2026, updated 6 April 2026)