Lepidoptera unclassified IMMATURE
1 caterpillar or pupa or cocoon at Franklin, ACT
Identify this sighting
| Psychidae (family) MATURE | ibaird | 27 Sep 2026 | |
| Lepidoptera unclassified IMMATURE | WendyEM | 27 Sep 2026 | |
| Unverified | chriselidie | 19 Oct 2025 |
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User's notes
Found on footpath between grasslands, has a case that looks like it's made of grass and herbs. Likes to eat grass, two seed vetch and leaves of a desert pea (Swainsona tephrotricha?), occasionally also wood sorrel (oxalis) and clover flowers. Case is 1.5 cm long. Started moving about restlessly for at least two weeks (seemingly not eating), before parking itself with the case front opening down to soil. No movement after 25/11. Case length 2 cm at this point.
12 comments
20 Oct 2025
Sorry, not yet a moth. This one is still a happily eating caterpillar. I hope to be able to post a sighting of the moth in future if we get to that point
20 Oct 2025
OK,i ts certainly an insect larvae, I was just querying wheteer it was in fact a moth.
20 Oct 2025
Oh, ok - I thought it is a case moth, looks like one I had last year with a different type of case. But I don't know for sure. What kind of picture would best help show if it's a moth caterpillar or a different insect?
20 Oct 2025
Your photo is excellent. Good luck with rearing the catepillar to adulthood. We usually assume that radically different pupal cases mean different species. Likely Psychidae, but I ccannot say for sure,
26 Sep 2026
This caterpillar made it to adulthood, but was unfortunately dead when I found it. The adult moth is shown in sighting 4718940 (Psychidae (family) MATURE (Case Moth)) as found.
27 Sep 2026
Good luck with the rearing. Not enough is known of the Psychidae to be able to ID them from the caterpillars. Many can't even be IDed at moth stage either! Much more research is needed. It is quite likely a Psychidae but some other moth larvae (e.g. some Tortricids) build houses like this too, just to confuse us. Actually it is to protect them from predators, not to confuse Lepidopterists!
27 Sep 2026
THis link makes it clear how difficult it is to identify case moth from the caterpillars alone:_
https://lepidoptera.butterflyhouse.com.au/psyc/psyc-cats.html
https://lepidoptera.butterflyhouse.com.au/psyc/psyc-cats.html
27 Sep 2026
Haha, yes I bet they are tricky to distinguish but don't want to confuse lepidopterists ;-) But the adult moth in sighting 4718940 (link in my comment above) looks like a Psychidae and (I forgot to say yesterday) was identified as Psychidae (family) MATURE. This moth emerged from it's pupa much earlier this year, just thought the caterpillar and moth should be linked under the same name... In the webpage that ibaird posted, the adult looks most like a Hyalarcta species - it had clear wings and smooth thorax. But then again there are other clear winged species too, so hard to tell.
27 Sep 2026
Thanks chriselidae. Yes I agree its probably Psychidae family (MATURE) based on your evidence, but I don't think we can say for sure which genus.
27 Sep 2026
Yes, thanks. I understand that you can't say which genus - the photos weren't that great this time, unfortunately
Location information
- Coordinates 149.145767-35.191674
- Places Franklin, ACT
Sighting information
- 1 Abundance
- 16 Oct 2025 07:59 PM Recorded on
- chriselidie Recorded by
- Feeds on grass and legume plants Associated plant
- 12mm to 25mm Animal size
Collections
- chriselidie NatureMapr Canberra & Southern Tablelands Lepidoptera unclassified IMMATURE Other moths Moths (Lepidoptera) Insects
Species information
- Lepidoptera unclassified IMMATURE Scientific name
- caterpillar or pupa or cocoon Common name
- Not Sensitive
- Local native
- Non-invasive or negligible
- Up to 1191m Recorded at altitude
-
Synonyms
Lepidoptera sp.
Record quality
Quality score
5 / 7
- Images or audio
- More than one media file
- Verified by an expert moderator
- Description
- Additional attributes
- Nearby sighting(s) of same species
- GPS evidence of location