Xylorycta parthenistis Lower, 1902
ANIC
Xylorycta parthenistis Lower, 1902. Descriptions of new genera and species of Australian Lepidoptera. Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia 26: 212–247 [237]. Holotype SAMA ♀, Tennant Creek, NT.
Xylorycta parthenistis Lower, 1902. Lower, 1918, The Lepidoptera of Broken Hill, New South Wales. Part IV, Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia 42, 226-239 [231].
Xylorycta parthenistis Lower, 1902. 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 parthenistis Lower, 1902. 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 1902
Xylorycta parthenistis, n. sp.
Female, 32 mm. Head and palpi white, faintly ochreous-tinged. Thorax white, very faintly ochreous-tinged anteriorly. Abdomen greyish-ochreous, segmental margins dull reddish. Antennae and legs white. Forewings elongate, moderate, costa gently arched, termen rounded, oblique, 7 to termen; shining snow-white; a fine pale ochreous line along costa from base to apex, somewhat dilated posteriorly; cilia snow-white. Hindwings with termen rounded, 3 and 4 from a point, 6 and 7 from a point; shining snow-white; cilia shining snow-white.
Differs from the similarly colored white species by the snowwhite hindwings. It is most related to homoleuca, Lower, and chionoptera, Lower, differing from the former by the hindwings and ochreous costal streak, and the latter by the hindwings and whitish, not orange, head.
Other references
Family XYLORYCTIDAE.
XYLORYCTA PARTHENISTIS, Low.
Two specimens, in November.
In the original description (Trans. Roy. Soc. S. Austr., 1902, p. 237) the habitat was omitted. It should be: Hab.: Tennant Creek, Central Australia, taken in October. (Lower, 1918).
Diagnosis:
Description:
Head:
Thorax:
Abdomen:
Food plants:
Flight period: October, November.
Distribution: Northern Territory. Endemic. (Edwards, 2003).
Remarks: