Lepidoptera unclassified IMMATURE moth

Akolele, NSW

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Identification history

Unidentified immature Lepidoptera	13 Dec 2020	GlennCocking
Endoxyla encalypti	13 Feb 2020	KimPullen
Unidentified	4 Feb 2020	Ascher

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User's notes

Can somebody tell me what it was that once occupied this empty shell Size : 120mm long 25mm diameter

7 comments

KerriLee wrote:

10 Feb 2020

wow ... huge! My first thought is a cossid moth.

KimPullen wrote:

14 Feb 2020

I agree it's probably a cossid, and if so an Endoxyla. I suggest E. encalypti from the menu only because it's common - and big!

GlennCocking wrote:

14 Feb 2020

I'm not disagreeing, but how do we tell the big cossids from the big hepialids? (I haven't tried to look it up.)

KerriLee wrote:

14 Feb 2020

ah, good point

KimPullen wrote:

14 Feb 2020

Keep me in the loop, I'm keen to know the difference too. Seeing as they are miles apart phylogenetically, there should be some morphological differences in the pupa that are easily observed in the exuviae.

GlennCocking wrote:

15 Feb 2020

Where the pupa was found is useful info, but not definitive. Some info from Common: Endoxyla encalypti, the most common large cossid in our part of Australia, feeds internally at the base of the trunk and into the roots of Acacia. It pupates underground and the pupa protrudes from the ground before emergence. (Other Endoxyla species have other foodplants, eg E. liturata uses Eucalyptus). Abantiades hepialids feed on the roots of Eucalyptus from the outside and similarly pupate underground and the pupa protrudes from the ground before emergence. So a pupa found nearby to the base of an Acacia is a good prospect for E. encalypti, and one found further out from the trunk of a eucalypt is a prospect for an Abantiades. Where was this pupa originally?

Ascher wrote:

15 Feb 2020

It was found in an area (a nature strip actually) that I cleared of small native vegetation late last year and subsequently covered with 'forest waste' wood chip mulch. The mulch had been in place since well before the fires hit nearby on NewYears day and I walk the space regularly checking for weeds so the shell had not been there for more than a day or so. There is a large long dead tree stump and miscellaneous other trees in the area. The moth must be enormous!

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