Enoplidia simplex (Turner, 1896)
 (one synonym: Heliocausta plausibilis Meyrick, 1913)
WINGIA GROUP,   OECOPHORINAE,   OECOPHORIDAE,   GELECHIOIDEA
 
Don Herbison-Evans,
(donherbisonevans@yahoo.com)
and
Peter Marriott & Stella Crossley


cocoon
(Photo: copyright Peter Marriott, Museum Victoria)

The Caterpillars of this species have been found on the ground feeding on dead phyllodes of:

  • Gum Trees ( Eucalyptus species, MYRTACEAE ), and
  • Broad-Leaf Wattles ( Acacia species, MIMOSACEAE ).

    The caterpillar constructs and lives in a shelter made of two irregular pieces of dead phyllode joined by silk.

    The cocoon of this species is dark brown and formed inside its shelter and is hung from a suitable stem. It has a length of about 3.5 cms.


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

    The adult moth has plain dark brown forewings, each often with one or two vague dark spots The hindwings are plain pale yellow. The wingspan is about 2 cms.


    (Photo: copyright Peter Marriott, Museum Victoria)

    This species has been found in

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

    Further reading :

    Ian F.B. Common,
    Oecophorine Genera of Australia I: The Wingia Group (Lepidoptera: Oecophoridae),
    Monographs on Australian Lepidoptera Volume 3,
    CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne 1994, pp. 29, 258, 262-265.

    A. Jefferis Turner,
    Descriptions of Micro-Lepidoptera from Queensland,
    Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia,
    Volume 20 (1896) p. 5.

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

    (updated 1 November 2012, 10 January 2015, 19 February 2019, 2 November 2020)