Clania ignobilis

Hi guys - I don't know what species this case moth might be, but there were lots of them around the small cork oak dam at the national arboretum. They were all exclusively on the rushes fringing the dam (Juncaceae). I note there are 8 records in CNM listed under Clania lewinii. I think perhaps only one of them actually is C. lewinii (the one from Higgins, 28 Jan 2017, on the trunk of a gum tree). C. Lewinii appears to be restricted to feeding on Myrtaceous plants. The other 7 records all appear to me to be quite different; the ornamenting twigs do not appear to be myrtaceous and mostly exceed the length of the case, and they appear to be feeding on a range of dicotyledonous plants. According to Ian Common's "Moths of Australia" (1990), for C. lewinii (or C. tenuis as it was then known) "The twigs ornamenting the cases of C. tenuis are of variable length but do not exceed the length of the case." Common also mentions that "Ctenocompa baliodes... also occurs in NSW. The larva makes a cylindrical case, ornamented with parallel-arranged pieces of grass-stems (Fig 51.2), but at Canberra... feeds on Brachyloma daphnoides (Epacridaceae) and other dicotyledonous shrubs." The photo at Fig 51.2 looks very similar to the seven records on CNM under C. lewinii. I'm not necessarily suggesting that the seven records are C. baliodes (which is now accepted as Psychanisa baliodes), but it also occurs to me that the cases of those seven records look more like many other species under the Taleporiinae rather than the more typical Psychinae cases (though I note ALA doesn't refer to any subfamilies under Psychidae). I'm certainly no expert, and taxonomy changes rapidly, so if I'm out of order just tell me to shut up.

Harvey. No, your comments are spot on, I think. Don (Donhe) will probably respond I expect, but he has already stated elsewhere (I recall) he would only be confident for about 20% of Psychidae sp. cases - and he's no doubt had quite a bit of experience raising them to adults.

Common says that generally C. lewinii has sticks the same length, and C. ignobilis has them all the same length except one, two or three that are longer, so this appears to be C. ignobilis . But of course: of the 350 described species of Psychidae in Australia, as far as I know: only 16 have cases that have been described, drawn, or photographed, so this could be one of the other 334.