#oecophorid

[drhoz]

#524 - Stathmopoda crocophanes

According to Australian Lepidoptera:

This caterpillar feeds on dead leaves.

The adult moth is yellow with two broad dark brown triangles on each forewing. The hindwings are dark brown with yellow tips. The inner margin of each wing has a hairy fringe wider than the wing itself. The moth has a wingspan of about 1 cm.

Yellow and dark brown is a colour scheme used by many Oecophorid moths, it seems.

This one flew into the cabin of my van one morning, in Bull Creek

[drhoz]

#310 - Yellow Philobota

Philobota xanthastis. Xanth means yellow, which she certainly is, but I don't know what the rest of the binomial was derived from (I'm sure I had a dictionary of taxonomic Latin and Greek around here somewhere).

Oecophorid moths have been hugely successful in Australia - most species eat dry leaf litter, although some eat dry marsupial poop, and there's a few household pests that eat carpet, textiles, and stored foodstuffs. Nothing is known about the caterpillar, eggs, or diet of this species though, which shows up in spring and summer in SW Australia between Jurien Bay and Mt Ragged.

Baldivis, Perth