as well as

Mature larva within its gall (preserved and slightly wrinkled specimen)
also tunnelling downward into Parthenium hysterophorus shoot.

In 1982, it was introduced into Australia from Mexico to control the weeds of the family ASTERACEAE :

It has been considered for the same purpose in Canada.

The eggs are very small, and pale in colour. They are laid singly on the leaves of a foodplant. The first instar larva burrows into the leaf to feed. Later, the Caterpillar burrows into the centre of a growing shoot, feeding on the terminal meristem, and growing to length of about 1 cm. It induces the plant to thicken the stem, creating an elongated gall, about 1 cm across and with a length of about 2 cms. In this gall, the Caterpillar subsequently lives, feeds, and pupates. In due course, the adult moth emerges from the gall from approximately the same position as that at which the Caterpillar originally entered the shoot, thus having executed a nifty about-turn inside the gall.

(Photo: courtesy of Todd Gilligan, Ohio State University)

The adult moths are dark brown with pale wingtips. They have a wingspan of about 1.5 cms.

(Picture: courtesy of CSIRO Entomology)

The species now occurs in Queensland. Whilst the caterpillar and pupa are attacked by a number of Australian native Lepidoptera parasitoids,

Further reading :

Ian F.B. Common,
Moths of Australia, Melbourne University Press, 1990, p. 73.

K. Dhileepan, Catherine J. Lockett, and Rachel E. McFadyen
Larval parasitism by native insects on the introduced stem-galling moth Epiblema strenuana Walker (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) and its implications for biological control of Parthenium hysterophorus (Asteraceae) , Australian Journal of Entomology, February 2005, vol. 44, no. 1, pp. 83-88.

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