(previously known as : Maroga albacosta)
Small Fruit Tree Borer
XYLORYCTIDAE
Don Herbison-Evans (
donherbisonevans@yahoo.com )
&
Stella Crossley
(updated 23 August 2008)
(Photo: courtesy of
Graeme Cocks, Townsville)
Don Herbison-Evans (
donherbisonevans@yahoo.com )
&
Stella Crossley
(updated 23 August 2008)
(Photo: courtesy of
Graeme Cocks, Townsville)
This caterpillar is grey with a series of brown marks along the back. It bores a hole into the branch of a tree, and emerges at night to drag leaves into the borehole which are consumed at leisure. It has been found feeding on various trees, including :
The caterpillars pupate in their borehole.
The adult moth has fawn forewings that each have line of dark dots along the margin, a dark spot and a faint ear-shaped mark near the middle, and a white basal area and costa. The hindwings are black with a white margin. The thorax is white with a black dot in the middle, and the abdomen is black with white hairs on the last segment. The male moths have a wing span of about 2.5 cms. The females have a wingspan up to 5 cms.
The species is found in :
Further reading :
Ian F.B. Common,
Moths of Australia,
Melbourne University Press, 1990, Pl. 6.3, p. 230.
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