Don Herbison-Evans (
donherbisonevans@yahoo.com )
&
Stella Crossley
(updated 28 September 2007)
(Picture: courtesy of Shell Australia)
The female moth of this species lays her eggs in holes she bores into the trunks and branches of various
The Caterpillars bore through the wood making it a sort of honeycomb of tunnels.
Pupation occurs in its borehole, and when the moth emerges from metamorphosis, it leaves the empty pupal case half sticking out from the mouth of its tunnel.
The adult moths have wings with a streaky speckled fawn pattern. The moths have a wingspan of about 7 cms.
The species is found over all of Australia, including Tasmania.
Further reading :
Ian F.B. Common,
Moths of Australia,
Melbourne University Press, 1990, p. 271.
S. Fearn,
Life history and habits of the wood moth
Xyleutes lituratus Don.
(Lepidoptera, Cossidae) in Tasmania,
Australian Entomological Magazine,
Volume 12 (1985).
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