Thereutis chionozyga

2 Cook, ACT

Request use of media

Identify this sighting

Thereutis chionozyga ibaird 9 Oct 2020
Thereutis chionozyga GlennCocking 9 Oct 2020
Tineidae (family) donhe 8 Oct 2020
Unverified CathB 8 Oct 2020

Please Login or Register to identify this sighting.

6 comments

   9 Oct 2020
A wonderful little beast!
   9 Oct 2020
Yes, Roeslerstammiidae family with the characteristic upcurved palps, see Zborowski and Edwards (2007) 'A Guide to Australin Moths': to see photo of another species in this family, page 55. This species T, chionozyga also collected by D.R. Britton and G. Cocking, Boboyan Road,, Namadgi National Park, ACT on 8/12/2013 ANIC Catalogue No. 31-068885-564 see: https://biocache.ala.org.au/occurrences/1692d1ff-9737-45dd-8bea-0cda8c40c589
   10 Oct 2020
It certainly is a strange looking creature. I'm a bit puzzled by the family description in the book that includes smooth head and antennae held forward from the head. This head looks anything but smooth, or am I misinterpreting something? The antennae were definitely held back along the body and returned to that position after it flicked them from time to time (just like the fairy moths seen in the same area). Sorry I couldn't get better pictures - it was surrounded by vegetation.
   10 Oct 2020
Yes several photos of moths in this famiy show the antenaae held back. Thos critieria stated vary in their relability I think. The characteristic upcuved palpi is a good guide though I expect.
   18 Oct 2020
it's hard to summarise characteristics in a few words for a whole family when there is variabilty within the family. I've just looked at half a dozen Roeslerstammiidae species in 4 genera. Some palpi are longer than others and the upcurve isn't always obvious. Regarding head scaling, Ian Common's "Moths of Australia" says: "the head has dense, erect piliform scales above ...." All the species I looked at had this sort of scaling.
   19 Oct 2020
Thanks all for the clarification.

Please Login or Register to comment.

Location information

Sighting information

  • At least 1 Abundance
  • 7 Oct 2020 02:29 PM Recorded on
  • CathB Recorded by
  • 5mm to 12mm Animal size

Collections

Species information

  • Thereutis chionozyga Scientific name
  • Common name
  • Not Sensitive
  • Local native
  • Non-invasive or negligible
  • 594.7m Recorded at altitude

Record quality

Quality score 5 / 7
  • Images or audio
  • More than one media file
  • Verified by an expert moderator
  • GPS evidence of location
  • Additional attributes
  • Nearby sighting(s) of same species
  • Description
854,877 sightings of 23,815 species from 16,387 members
NatureMapr is developed by at3am | Made and hosted in Australia | privacy | CCA 3.0