Lichenaula choriodes Meyrick, 1890
BOLD
ANIC
Lichenaula choriodes Meyrick, 1890, Descriptions of Australian Lepidoptera. Part I. Xyloryctidae. Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia 13: 23–81 [50]. Syntype(s) BMNH number unknown ♂♀, Rosewood, Qld; Sydney, NSW; Melbourne, Vic.
Lichenaula choriodes Meyr. Lower, 1896: A catalogue of Victorian Heterocera. Part xix. The Victorian Naturalist, 12: 149-152. [151].
Lichenaula choriodes Meyr. Turner, 1898. The Xyloryctidae of Queensland. Annals of the Queensland Museum 4: 1–32 [19].
Lichenaula melanosema Turner, 1898. The Xyloryctidae of Queensland. Annals of the Queensland Museum 4: 1–32 [20]. Holotype ANIC ♂, Brisbane, Qld.
Lichenaula choriodes Meyr. Beutenmüller, 1901, Catalogue of the Described Transformations of Australian Lepidoptera, Journal of the New York Entomological Society, IX, 4, 148-177.
Lichenaula choriodes Meyr. Lower, 1917, The Lepidoptera of Broken Hill, New South Wales. Part III. Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia, 41, 369-477 [370].
Lichenaula choriodes Meyr. Turner, 1917: Lepidopterological gleanings. Proc. R. Soc. Qd 29: 70-106 [97].
Plectophila choriodes Meyr. Turner, 1917: Lepidopterological gleanings. Proc. R. Soc. Qd 29: 70-106 [97].
Lichenaula choriodes Meyr. Common, 1970: Lepidoptera (Moths and Butterflies), The Insects of Australia, Melbourne University Press, 765-866 [824].
Lichenaula choriodes Meyrick, 1890, = L. melanosema Turner, 1898, syn. n. Common, in Nielsen, Edwards, & Rangsi, 1996, Checklist of the Lepidoptera of Australia. Monographs on Australian Lepidoptera, 4: i-xiv, 1-529 & CD-ROM [87].
Plectophila choriodes (Meyrick, 1890). 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 23 April 2010].
Xylorycta melanosema Turner, 1898. 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 23 April 2010]. [Synonymy not noted].
Lichenaula choriodes Meyrick, 1890. 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 18 June 2010].
Original description, Meyrick 1890
Lich. choriodes, n. sp.
Both sexes 14-22mm. Head and antennae white, ciliations in male almost 2. Palpi white, second joint dark fuscous towards base. Thorax white, with some dark fuscous scales, and a small posterior dark fuscous spot. Abdomen whitish. Legs white, anterior pair dark fuscous, middle pair spotted with dark fuscous. Forewings elongate, costa gently arched, apex round-pointed, hind margin very obliquely rounded; 7 to apex or near below it; white, more or less densely irrorated with fuscous, and generally partially with black; markings ill-defined, formed by confluence of this irroration; a narrow transverse streak near base, not reaching costa; a triangular blotch on inner margin before middle, apex generally more blackish, reaching more than half across wing, ground colour above this blotch generally clear-white without irroration; a cloudy spot on costa beyond middle and another at anal angle, nearly confluent; two dark fuscous transversely placed sometimes confluent dots in disc at 2/3; a more or less indicated pale angulated. subterminal line, preceded and followed by darker suffusion: cilia whitish, with two cloudy fuscous lines, on costa indistinctly barred. Hindwings light fuscous, more whitish-fuscous towards base; cilia whitish, with a cloudy fuscous line.
Rosewood, Queensland; Sydney, New South Wales; Melbourne, Victoria; in December and February, rather common on fences. Larva feeding on lichen-dust on fences, beneath a gallery of web and refuse, forming a tunnel in a crevice for shelter, in September. This species is also a very variable one.
Synonymic description, Turner 1898
Lichenaula melanosema, n. sp. Male, 14 mm. Antennal ciliations, 1 ½. Forewings with vein 7 to hindmargin. Head, face palpi, and antennae white. Thorax white, irrorated with fuscous, with a dark fuscous spot posteriorly. Abdomen whitish. Forewings elongate, costa very slightly arched, apex round-pointed, hindmargin very obliquely rounded; white, irrorated with fuscous, a well-marked dark fuscous streak from inner-margin at base not quite reaching costa at 1/6; a dark fuscous blotch resting on middle of fold; pale fuscous suffusions below costa at 3/5 and 4/5 and above anal angle; a few dark fuscous2/5; scales in disc at 2/3; cilia white, with pale irroration. Hindwings and cilia grey.
This species seems referable here, but I should like to examine further specimens before being quite certain. Brisbane: one specimen.
Other references
L. choriodes, Meyr. (loc. cit., 50, 1889).
Melbourne. (Lower, 1896).
I regard this as the central and probably the largest genus of the family. Veins 6 and 7 of the hindwings are closely approximated at base, and it is not always easy to observe that they are really separate. This may often be most conveniently made evident by cautiously moistening the wing with spirit, and viewing it with a good lens by oblique light. In at least one species, L. choriodes, Meyr., these veins sometimes vary, in some abnormal specimens proceeding from a point or even being stalked. In the length of the antennal ciliations in the male and in the termination of vein 7 of the forewings, there is considerable variation. Nevertheless, I am of opinion that the genus
should not be divided. (Turner, 1898).
Lichenaula choriodes, Meyr., Meyrick, 50. In this species veins 6 and 7 of the hindwings are very close together at base, so that sometimes they proceed from a point, and I have one abnormal specimen in which they are actually stalked on both sides. Brisbane. (Turner, 1898).
Lichenaula choriodes Meyr.
1890 — Larva (brief). E. Meyrick. Trans. Roy. Soc. S. Austral., p. 50.
Food-plant: Lichens. (Beutenmüller, 1901).
LICHENAULA CHORlODES, Meyr.
Four specimens, May. (Lower, 1917).
Gen. plectophila.
To this genus I refer Lichenaula choriodes Meyr., poliochyta Turn., and micradelpha Turn. (Turner, 1917).
Fig 36. 32C: Lichenaula choriodes
The larvae of some, such a L. choriodes Meyr. (Fig 36.32c) and L. lichenea Meyr., feed upon lichens growing on fences and rocks, sheltering on a gallery made of silk and refuse particles. (Common, 1970).
Diagnosis:
Description:
Head:
Thorax:
Abdomen:
Food plants: Larva in silk gallery in crevice. Larval foodplant: lichen. (Edwards, 2003).
Flight period: December, February, May.
Distribution: New South Wales, Queensland. Endemic. (Edwards, 2003).
Remarks: