Pycnocera hypoxantha Turner, 1896
 (one synonym : Eudrymopsis xyloscopa Lower, 1903)
CHEZALA GOUP
OECOPHORINAE,   OECOPHORIDAE,   GELECHIOIDEA
 
Don Herbison-Evans,
(donherbisonevans@yahoo.com)
and
Stella Crossley

Pycnocera hypoxantha
(Photo: courtesy of Ian McMillan, Imbil, Queensland)

This Caterpillar has been found living in and carrying around a cylindrical case made by rolling a thin piece of bark or dead leaf, and lining it with silk. The case can have a length up ot 4.5 cms. The caterpillar feeds on dead leaves of

  • Gum Trees ( Eucalyptus species, MYRTACEAE ).

    Pupation occurs in its cylindrical case, the case having been attached at both ends to a tree trunk or nearby object.

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

    The adult moths of this species have brown forewings each with black markings which include a wide and a narrow black diagonal stripe. The hindwings are grey-brown fading towards the bases. The wingspan is about 2 cms.

    The species has been found in:

  • Queensland, and
  • New South Wales.

    Further reading :

    Ian F.B. Common,
    Oecophorine Genera of Australia II: The Chezala, Philobota and Eulechria groups (Lepidoptera: Oecophoridae),
    Monographs on Australian Lepidoptera Volume 5,
    CSIRO Publishing, 1997, pp. 59, 63-66, Figs. 90-98.

    A. Jefferis Turner,
    Descriptions of Micro-Lepidoptera from Queensland,
    Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia,
    Volume 20 (1896), p. 22.

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    (written 13 January 2015, updated 25 October 2018)