Salma marmorea (Warren, 1891)
(previously known as Stericta marmorea)
EPIPASCHIINAE,   PYRALIDAE,   PYRALOIDEA
 
Don Herbison-Evans
(donherbisonevans@yahoo.com)
and
Stella Crossley

Salma marmorea
(Photo: courtesy of Peter Marriott, Melbourne, Victoria)

These caterpillars have been found feeding on a variety of MYRTACEAE, including:

  • Garden Tea Tree ( Leptospermum species ).

    The caterpillars live communally in shelters of leaves, silk webbing and frass. In Melbourne: the larval stage is from December to January and the adult moths emerge in February.

    Salma marmorea
    (Photo: courtesy of Peter Marriott, Melbourne, Victoria)

    The adult moths of this species are brown with what appears to be the outline of a map of Africa on the left forewing (and the mirror image pattern on the right forewing). The wingspan is about 4 cms.

    The species is found in

  • Victoria, and
  • Tasmania.


    (Photo: courtesy of CSIRO Entomology)


    Further reading :

    William Warren,
    Descriptions of new genera and species of Pyralidae contained in the British Museum Collection,
    Annals and Magazine of Natural History,
    6th Series, Volume 7 (1891), pp. 432-433.


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    (updated 10 February 2009, 29 April 2024)