Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Xylorycta chionoptera



Xylorycta chionoptera Lower, 1893


Xylorycta chionoptera Lower, 1893. New Australian Lepidoptera. Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia  17 146-185 [173]. Holotype SAMA ♀, Fernshaw, Vic.
Xylorycta chionoptera Lower. Lower, 1896, A catalogue of Victorian Heterocera. Part xix. The Victorian Naturalist, 12: 149-152 [151].
Xylorycta chionoptera Lower, 1893. Beccaloni, G. W., Scoble, M. J., Robinson, G. S. & Pitkin, B. (Editors). 2003. The Global Lepidoptera Names Index (LepIndex). World Wide Web electronic publication. http://www.nhm.ac.uk/entomology/lepindex [accessed 5 May 2010].
Xylorycta chionoptera Lower. Lower, 1896. Edwards, E. D. (2003), Xyloryctinae. Australian Faunal Directory. Australian Biological Resources Study, Canberra. http://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/abrs/online-resources/fauna/afd/taxa/XYLORYCTINAE [accessed 19 June 2010].

Original description, Lower 1893
Xylorycta chionoptera, n. sp.
Female, 36 mm. Head yellowish, palpi whitish, antennae and legs fuscous, posterior pair ochreous; thorax whitish-ochreous. Abdomen greyish, segments dull-orange. Forewings elongate, costa gently arched, hindmargin obliquely rounded; shining snow-white; costal edge blackish from base to one-fourth, rest of costa orange; cilia shining snow-white. Hindwings light fuscous-grey; cilia white, ochreous-tinged at base. Underside of all wings suffused with orange, especially on margins.
One specimen, Fernshaw, Victoria. Whether this is a Xylorycta or Cryptophaga, I am unable to say in the absence of the male. It is very similar to luteotactella, Walk., but longer winged.
 
Other references

X. chionoptera, Lower (Tr. Roy. Soc. S.A., 173, 1893).
Fernshaw and Melbourne. (Lower, 1896).

Diagnosis:
Description:
Head:
Thorax:
Abdomen:
Food plants:
Flight period:
Distribution: Victoria. Endemic. (Edwards, 2003).

Remarks: