Cryptophasa platypedimela

Cryptophasa platypedimela (Lower, 1894)

♂ - Qld, Silver Plains Homestead, Cape York Peninsula, 15. Mar. 1965, J.L.. Wassell leg. (ANIC). [AMO].

♀ - K214, 17 km SE of Black Mountain Road on Toll Road, Kuranda. Collected by David Rentz and Buck Richardson, 6 February, 2010.

Cryptophaga platypedimela Lower, 1894. New Australian Heterocera. Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia  18: 77–113 [90]. Holotype SAMA ♂, Mackay, Qld.

Cryptophaga platypedimela. Illidge, 1895: Xylorycts, or timber moths. Queensland Natural History Society Transactions, 1, 29-34.

Cryptophaga platypedimela Lower. Turner, 1898. The Xyloryctidae of Queensland. Annals of the Queensland Museum 4: 1–32 [6].

Cryptophasa platypedimela (Lower, 1894). Common, in Nielsen, Edwards, & Rangsi, 1996, Checklist of the Lepidoptera of Australia. Monographs on Australian Lepidoptera, 4: i-xiv, 1-529 & CD-ROM [87].

Cryptophasa platypedimela (Lower, 1894). 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 17 April 2010].

Cryptophasa platypedimela (Lower, 1894). 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, Lower 1894

Cryptophaga platypedimela, n. sp.

Male, 42 mm. Head and palpi ochreous white. Antennae white, pectinations yellow. Abdomen and legs ochreous-yellow, anterior tibiae and tarsi fuscous. Thorax ochreous-white, with a large purplish-fuscous median blotch; patagia ochreous, with a. purplish-fuscous patch. Forewings elongate-oblong. Costa nearly straight, hindmargin obliquely rounded; 2 from near middle ochreous white, sparsely strigulated with faint transverse purplish striga, a purplish-fuscous broad basal patch, its outer edge straight from one-sixth costa to one-sixth inner-margin, leaving a patch of ground-colour at extreme base; a large purplish-ferruginous discal spot beyond middle; a narrow irregularly dentate hindmarginal fascia broadest at apex; cilia dark-fuscous, with a well-defined whitish basal line. Hindwings with hindmargin rounded; 6 and 7 from a point; pale yellow; cilia pale yellow.

One specimen received Mr. R. E. Turner, Mackay, Queensland. It is a pretty and distinct species in the group of albicosta, Lew.

Other references

Cryptophaga platypedimela, Lower. Proc. Roy. Soc. S. A., 1894, 90. I have not seen this species. Lower's type was received from Mackay. (Turner, 1898).

Diagnosis:

Description:

Head:

Cryptophasa platypedimela ♀ head, K214, 17 km SE of Black Mountain Road on Toll Road, Kuranda. Collected by David Rentz and Buck Richardson, 6 February, 2010.

Thorax:

Cryptophasa platypedimela ♀ wing venation

Abdomen:

Cryptophasa platypedimela ♂ genitalia, K-0525, Kuranda Queensland. Collected by David Rentz.

Cryptophasa platypedimela aedeagus, K-0525, Kuranda Queensland. Collected by David Rentz.

Food plants:

Flight period: February, March.

Distribution: Queensland. Endemic. (Edwards, 2003).

Remarks:

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