Thereutis chionozyga

2 Cook, ACT

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Identification history

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

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6 comments

GlennCocking wrote:

9 Oct 2020

A wonderful little beast!

ibaird wrote:

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

CathB wrote:

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.

ibaird wrote:

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.

GlennCocking wrote:

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.

CathB wrote:

19 Oct 2020

Thanks all for the clarification.

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