Aenetus ombraloma (Lower, 1902)
 (one synonym : Oenetus paradiseus Tindale, 1953)
HEPIALIDAE,   HEPIALOIDEA
 
Don Herbison-Evans
(donherbisonevans@yahoo.com)
and
Stella Crossley

Aenetus ombraloma
male
(Photo: courtesy of Ethan Beaver, Southport, Tasmania)

The Caterpillars of this species have been found living in tunnels bored into the trunks of young Gum Trees ( MYRTACEAE ) of various species, including:

  • Messmate ( Eucalyptus obliqua ),
  • Mountain ash ( Eucalyptus regnans ), and
  • Yellow Gum ( Eucalyptus john-stonii ).

    The caterpillars cover the entrance to their tunnel with a web of silk, and pupate in their tunnel.

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

    The female adult moths have green forewings and brown hindwings. The males have brown forewings, and orange hindwings, each with a broad dark brown border. The male moths have a wingspan of about 5 cms. The female moths have a wingspan of about 8 cms.

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

    The species has been found in

  • New South Wales,
  • Victoria,
  • Tasmania, and
  • South Australia.

    Aenetus ombraloma
    underside
    (Photo: courtesy of Elaine McDonald, Nicholls Rivulet, Tasmania)

    Further reading :

    Ian F.B. Common,
    Moths of Australia,
    Melbourne University Press, 1990, p. 147.

    Oswald B. Lower,
    New Australian Lepidoptera,
    Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia,
    Volume 26 (1902), p. 212.

    Thomas J. Simonsen,
    Splendid Ghost Moths and their Allies,
    A Revision of Australian Abantiades, Oncopera, Aenetus, Archaeoaenetus and Zelotypia (Hepialidae),
    Monographs on Australian Lepidoptera Volume 12,
    CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne, 2018.

    Norman B. Tindale,
    On a new species of Oenetus (Lepidoptera, Family Hepialidae) damaging Eucalyptus saplings in Tasmania,
    Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia,
    Volume 76 (1953), p. 77, and also Plate 6, figs 3, 4.

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    (updated 19 September 2011, 1 November 2018, 22 September 2019, 12 October 2020)