Xylorycta melaleucae Turner, 1898.
Xylorycta melaleucae, ANIC. Photo BOLD.
Xylorycta melaleucae, ANIC. Photo BOLD.
Xylorycta melaleucae Turner, 1898. The Xyloryctidae of Queensland. Annals of the Queensland Museum 4: 1–32 [14]. Syntype(s) ANIC 2♂, Moreton Bay and Coomera River, Qld.
Xylorycta melaleuca [sic] Turn. Philpott, 1937: The Maxillae in the Lepidoptera. Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand, 57, 721-745 [735].
Xylorycta melaleucae Turner, 1898. 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 melaleucae 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 5 May 2010].
Xylorycta melaleucae Turner, 1898. 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 decription, Turner 1898
Xylorycta melaleucae, n. sp. Male, 17-18 mm.; antennal ciliations, ¼. Head, face, palpi, and antennae whitish-grey. Thorax grey. Abdomen ochreous. Legs whitish; anterior pair infuscated. Forewings elongate, costa rather strongly arched near base, thence straight, apex round-pointed, hindmargin obliquely rounded; fuscous-grey, irrorated with dark fuscous scales; a broad snow-white streak along costa near base, ceasing rather abruptly beyond middle; some dark suffusion in basal part of disc; two fuscous dots placed transversely in disc at 2/3; hindmarginal edge barred with fuscous and whitish; cilia dark fuscous; some white scales about middle of hindmargin. Hindwings and cilia pale-grey.
Coomera River, Moreton Bay: two specimens from tunnelling the stems of Melaleuca genistifolia. The specimens were unfortunately considerably damaged, so that the description may not be accurate as to finer details.
Xylorycta melaleucae, maxillary palp. Philpott, 1927.
Maxillary palpi in Xylorycta 3-segmented. (Philpott, 1927.).
Diagnosis:
Description:
Head:
Xylorycta melaleucae, head. K-0593, collected by David Rentz, Kuranda.
Thorax:
Abdomen:
Xylorycta melaleucae,♂genitalia. K-0593, collected by David Rentz, Kuranda.
Xylorycta melaleucae, clasper. K-0593.
Xylorycta melaleucae, uncus and gnahos. K-0593.
Xylorycta melaleucae, anellus, saccus and juxta. K-0593.
Food plants: Larva boring in stem. Larval foodplant: Melaleuca genistifolia (Myrtaceae). (Edwards, 2003).
Flight period:
Distribution: New South Wales, Queensland. Endemic. (Edwards, 2003).
Remarks: The male genitalia suggest that this species may belong to the Phthonerodes group.
Updated 17 September 2109.