Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Xylorycta parabolella



Xylorycta parabolella (Walker, 1864)


ANIC

Oecophora parabolella Walker, 1864. Tineites. List of the Specimens of Lepidopterous Insects in the Collection of the British Museum. Vol. 29. 562–835 pp. [670]. Holotype BMNH ♀, Tasmania.
Telecrates parabolella Walk. Meyrick, 1890, Descriptions of Australian Lepidoptera. Part I. Xyloryctidae. Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia 13: 23–81 [63].
Telecrates parabolella Walk. Lower, 1896, A catalogue of Victorian Heterocera. Part xix. The Victorian Naturalist, 12: 149-152 [152].
Telecrates parabolla Walk. Beutenmüller, 1901, Catalogue of the Described Transformations of Australian Lepidoptera, Journal of the New York Entomological Society, IX, 4, 148-177 [176].
Xylorycta parabolella (Walker, 1864). Common, in Nielsen, Edwards, & Rangsi, 1996, Checklist of the Lepidoptera of Australia. Monographs on Australian Lepidoptera, 4: i-xiv, 1-529 & CD-ROM [89].
Telecrates parabolella Walker, 1864. 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 parabolella (Walker, 1864). 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, Walker, 1864
Oecophora parabolella.
Foem. Argenteo-alba; capitis discus cervinus; palpi cervino vittati; thorax ochraceo fasciatus; abdomen obscure cinereum, segmentis argenteo marginatis; pedes ochraceo strigati, tibiis posticis fimbriatis; alae anticae apice rotundatae, vittis duabus connexis ochraceis; posticae aeneo-cinereae.
Female. Silvery while, smooth, rather stout. Disk of the head above fawn-colour. Palpi smooth, nearly twice longer than the breadth of the head; second joint mostly fawn-colour in front; third setiform, fawn-colour, a little shorter than the second. Thorax with a very broad ochraceous hand. Abdomen dark cinereous above; hind borders of the segments silvery. Legs streaked with ochraceous; posterior tibiae rather broad; hind tibiae fringed. Fore wings rounded at the tips, with two ochraceous stripes, which are united at the base and at the tips; under side blackish cinereous, excepting the cilia and the fringe; exterior border slightly convex, very oblique. Hind wings cinereous, tinged with aeneous; fringe paler.
Length of the body 6 lines [12.7mm]; of the wings 16 lines [33.9mm].
a. Tasmania. Presented by M. Allport, Esq.
 
Subsequent description, Meyrick, 1890
Tel. parabolella, Walk.
(Oecophora parabolella, Walk. 690.)
Both sexes 25-29 mm. Head ochreous-grey, sides of crown and lower part of face white. Palpi white, second joint brownish-ochreous except at apex and towards base, terminal joint dark fuscous anteriorly. Antennae light grey. Thorax greyish-ochreous, becoming deep yellow-ochreous anteriorly. Abdomen whitish-ochreous. Legs ochreous-fuscous, posterior pair ochreous-whitish. Forewings elongate, moderate, costa moderately arched, apex obtuse, hind margin straight, oblique; silvery-white; a moderate deep yellow-ochreous longitudinal streak above middle from base to apex; a broader similar stripe near inner margin from base throughout, touching inner margin at 1/3, at extremity continued upwards more narrowly along hindmargin to meet upper streak at apex: cilia whitish-ochreous, basal half white except at anal angle. Hindwings grey, extreme apex whitish-ochreous; cilia whitish-ochreous.
Blackheath (3,500 feet), New South Wales; Hobart, Tasmania; Mount Lofty, South Australia; from October to December, eight specimens. Larva feeds in the seed-cones of Banksia marginata.
 
Other references

T. parabolella, Walk. (Oecophora parabolella, Walk., 690; Telecrates parabolella Meyr., loc, cit., 63, 1889).
Gisborne and Melbourne. (Lower, 1896).

Telecrates parabolla Walk.
1890 —- Larva (brief). E. Meyrick. Trans. Roy. Soc. S. Austr., p. 64.
Food plant : Cones of Banksia. (Beutenmüller, 1901).

Diagnosis:
Description:
Head:
Thorax:
Abdomen:
Food plants: Larva boring in old flower spikes. Larval foodplant: Banksia marginata (Proteaceae). (Edwards, 2003).
Flight period: October, November, December.
Distribution: New South Wales, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria. Endemic. (Edwards, 2003).

Remarks: