Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Xylorycta strigata


Xylorycta strigata (Lewin, 1805)


Banksia Web-covering Borer

Xylorycta strigata♀ - NSW, Chatswood, 24. Jan. 1965, V.J. Robinson leg. (ANIC) [AMO].

Xylorycta strigata♂ - NSW, 15 km SE of Putty Lat. 33' 05'' S Long. 150' 43'' E, 12. Dec. 1974, I.F.B. Common E.D. Edwards leg. (ANIC). [AMO].

Cryptophasa strigata Lewin, 1805, Prodromus Entomology. Natural History of Lepidopterous Insects of New South Wales. London : T. Bensley pp. 18 pls and text (letterpress) [plate 14, p. 15]. Syntype(s) whereabouts unknown number unknown ♂♀, Sydney, NSW.
Cryptophasa strigata Lewin, 1805. Boisduval, 1832, Voyage de Découvertes de l'Astrolabe exécuté par Ordre du Roi, Pendant les Années 1826–1827–1828–1829, sous le Commandement de M.J. Dumont D'Urville. Faune entomologique de l'Océan Pacifique, avec l'illustration des insectes nouveaux recueillis pendant le Voyage. Part 1. Lépidoptères. Paris : J. Tastu pp. iv 5–267 [232].
Cryptophasa strigata Lewin, 1805. Zeller, 1853: Microlepédoptera [S.l. : s.n.] [353].
Xylorycta strigata Lw. Meyrick, 1890, Descriptions of Australian Lepidoptera. Part I. Xyloryctidae. Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia 13: 23–81 [59].
Xylorycta strigata Lewin. Lower, 1896: A catalogue of Victorian Heterocera. Part xix. The Victorian Naturalist, 12: 149-152 [151].
Xylorycta strigata Lw. Turner, 1898. The Xyloryctidae of Queensland. Annals of the Queensland Museum 4: 1–32 [13].
Xylorycta strigata Lew. Beutenmüller, 1901, Catalogue of the Described Transformations of Australian Lepidoptera, Journal of the New York Entomological Society, IX, 4, 148-177. [176].
Xylorycta strigata (Lew). Common, Australian Moths, Jacaranda Press, 1963, 1-128 (50-54) [52-53, fig 105].
Xylorycta strigata (Lew). Common, 1970: Lepidoptera (Moths and Butterflies), The Insects of Australia, Melbourne University Press, 765-866 (824).
Xylorycta strigata (Lew). Common, 1990, Moths of Australia, Melbourne University Press. 227-230 [229].
Xylorycta strigata (Lewin, 1805). Common, in Nielsen, Edwards, & Rangsi, 1996, Checklist of the Lepidoptera of Australia. Monographs on Australian Lepidoptera, 4: i-xiv, 1-529 & CD-ROM [89].
Xylorycta strigata (Lewin, 1805). 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 7 May 2010].
Xylorycta strigata (Lewin, 1805). 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, Lewin 1805
Pl. 14: Lewin, 1805, pre-publication print, State Library of NSW
Cryptophasa Strigata. Pl. 14.
Noctua Cryptophasa with light wainscot coloured wings; anterior with a brown stripe from the shoulder to the end. Posterior wings with a broad silvery fringe: the whole insect silvery, especially near the stripe.
The larva of this little Noctua is provident, and wood-boring: our specimen had entered a sappy branch or slender stem a the Banksia Serrata, where it had formed a cell, having its entrance barricaded with a fabric of interwoven web and excrement; under which the larva conveys its food, by nightly perambulations, that is, so much of a leaf of the above tree as it can conveniently carry away at a time, and which it forces part down its cell, where, in security, it feeds and sleeps during the whole day. Within this dwelling it transforms to a pupa, generally in January; remains twenty-two days in that state, and is on the wing in February, and then found on Banksia shrubs near Sidney. The male is figured at 3; the female at 4; the pupa, with the wood laid open at 2; the larva at 1; and the barricado at 5.
Subsequent description, Boisduval 1832
C. RAYÉE, Strigata.
Alis pallide cinereis; anticis vitta longitudinali nigro-fusca.
Ailes d'un gris-cendré pâle; les supérieures avec une bandelette étroite longitudinale prolongée de la base à l'extrémité et d'un noir brun.
Lewin, Prodr. Ent., pl. 14, p. 15.
Elle est de la taille de Lithosia Complana, et elle a tout-à-fait le port et le dessin de plusieurs de nos Tinèides d'Europe. Son corps est beaucoup plus mince que dans les espèces précédentes, et les antennes du mâle sont à peine pectinées.
Subsequent description, Zeller 1853
Strigata Lewin.
Alis fuscescenti-albidis nitidulis, ant. stria ex basi in apicem fusca. ♂♀.
Cryptophasa strigata Lewin l. c. p. 15. pl. 14. fig, 1 — 5. —. Thon Archiv I, S. 36. Taf. III. f.g. 5. a—d.
So gross wie Tortr. piceana. Raupe in Banksia serrata;
Schmetterling nach einer 22tägigen Puppenruhe im Februar auf Banksiensträuchern um Sidney.
Subsequent description, Meyrick 1890
Xyl. strigata, Lw.
(Cryptophasa strigata, Lw., Ins. N.S. Wales.)
Both sexes 22-32 mm. Head and thorax light fuscous, patagia sometimes whitish towards base. Palpi and antennae fuscous-whitish. Abdomen whitish, anal tuft whitish-ochreous. Legs whitish, anterior pair fuscous. Forewings elongate-oblong, costa gently arched, apex round pointed, hindmargin nearly straight, oblique; white; dorsal half light fuscous; a moderate straight darker fuscous streak above middle from base to apex: cilia white, round anal angle light fuscous, sometimes with a light fuscous subapical line. Hindwings whitish-fuscous, more whitish towards base, more or less suffused with darker fuscous towards apex; cilia whitish.
Sydney, New South Wales; Melbourne, Victoria; in November and December, common. Larva 16-legged, stout, cylindrical, with scattered long whitish hairs; whitish, posteriorly suffused with pale pinkish-ochreous; segments 5-12, with a square of four transverse-elongate black spots on back, a large irregular black spot on side, enclosing a pale ocellus, a small black spot beneath this, and two others behind it, and an irregular square of four round black spots below these, whole surface, except spots, broadly reticulated with pale carmine; fourth segment with a large double-triangular spot on back, third with a much larger one, each with four or five irregular spots on sides; second segment deep amber, each side with narrow black transverse stripe; head rugose, black; anal segment pale yellowish, shining. Feeds on Banksia serrata and other species of the genus, and on Lambertia formosa, residing in a barricaded tunnel in the branches, and carrying in leaves for food, in August and September.
Other references

X. strigata, Lewin (Cryptophasa strigata, Lewin, Ins. N.S.W.; Xylorycta strigata, Meyr., Tr. Roy. Soc. S.A., 59, 1889).
Melbourne. (Lower, 1896).

Xylorycta strigata, Lw. (Cryptophasa strigata, Lewin, Ins. N.S.W.; Xylorycta strigata, Meyrick, 59.) Brisbane: found by Mr. Illidge feeding in the stems of Banksia integrifolia. (Turner, 1898).

Xylorycta strigata Lew.
1890 — Larva. E. Meyrick. Trans. Roy. Soc. S. Austr., p. 59.
Food -plants : Banksia, Lambertia. (Beutenmüller, 1901).

Xylorycta strigata, fig. 105, Common 1963

Banksia is the food plant of several other tunneling species including Xylorycta strigata (Lew.) (105, male 1.2 inches). (Common, 1963).

X. strigata (Lew.) is white with a broad fuscous longitudinal stripe on the fore wing. (Common, 1970).
The larva tunnels in the branches of Banksia serrata and B. integrifolia, and of Lambertia formosa, feeding on leaves which it drags to the entrance of the tunnel. (Common, 1970).

Xylorycta strigata, Fig. 23.9: Common, 1990.

One of the commonest species is X. strigata (Lew.) (Fig. 23.9). It ranges from Yeppoon, Queensland, to south-eastern South Australia. The larvae live in a tunnel they excavate in a stem or branch of Banksia (Protaceae), covering thee entrance with a web of silk and faecal pellets and emerging at night to cut off leaves which are attached at the entrance to the tunnel to be eaten later. It has also been reported from Lambertia formosa (Protaceae). (Common, 1990).

Diagnosis:
Description:
Head:
Thorax:
Abdomen:


Xylorycta strigata,♂genitalia. G261, 1 ml E of Audley, NSW, 28 February 1952, collected by I.F.B. Common. 
Dissection by I.F.B. Common, 1959. ANIC, Canberra.


Xylorycta strigata, clasper. G261.

Xylorycta strigata, uncus and gnathos, G261.

Xylorycta strigata, anellus, saccus and juxta, G261.

Food plants: Larva boring in stem and tying cut leaves at entrance to bore. Larval foodplants: Banksia serrata, B. aemula, B. paludosa, B. integrifolia, Lambertia formosa (Proteaceae). (Edwards, 2003).
Flight period: November, December.
Distribution: New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia. Endemic. (Edwards, 2003).

Remarks:



Updated 19 September 2019