Lichenaula undulatella

Lichenaula undulatella (Walker, 1864)
(formerly known as Cryptolechia undulatella)
XYLORYCTIDAE, GELECHIOIDEA

Don Herbison-Evans
(donherbisonevans@yahoo.com)
and
Stella Crossley

Lichenaula undulatella
(Photo: courtesy of Ian McMillan, Imbil, Queensland)

The Caterpillars of this species live in a tubular shelter formed from a foodplant leaf. The caterpillars have been found feeding on a number of plants including

Green Wattle ( Acacia decurrens, MIMOSACEAE ), and

Dogwood ( Jacksonia scoparia, FABACEAE ).

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

The adult moths have a large dark brown semicircle edged in white on each forewing. The head and thorax are hairy and white. The wingspan is about 2 cms.

The species has been found in :

Queensland,

New South Wales,

Victoria, and

Western Australia.

Further reading :

Ian F.B. Common,
Moths of Australia,
Melbourne University Press, 1990, fig. 22.18, p. 227.

Ian McMillan,
Lichenaula undulatella, Xyloryctine Moths of Australia,
Blog, Sunday, July 11, 2010.