Cryptophasa rubescens

Cryptophasa rubescens Lewin, 1805.

♂ - NSW, Broulee, 24. Feb. 1962, M.S. Upton leg. (ANIC). [AMO].

♂ - Qld, Leo Creek, McIlwraith Range, NE of Coen, 29. Jan. 1976, G.B. & S. Monteith leg. (ANIC). [AMO].

♀ - NSW, Minnamurra Falls, 16. Nov. 1961, V.J. Robinson leg. (ANIC). [AMO].

♀ - NSW, Wingham, 4. Sep. 1991, J. Stockard leg. (ANIC). [AMO].

♂ - NSW, North Yabbra & Castle Spur Road, Yabbra State Forest 394, 15. Dec. 1999, L.S. Willan leg. (LWC). [AMO].

Cryptophasa rubescens Lewin, 1805. Prodromus Entomology. Natural History of Lepidopterous Insects of New South Wales. London : T. Bensley pp. 18 pls and text (letterpress) [13]. Syntype(s) whereabouts unknown number unknown ♂♀, [Sydney], NSW.

Cryptophasa rubescens Lewin. Boisduval, 1832: Voyage de Découvertes de l'Astrolabe exécuté par Ordre du Roi, Pendant les Années 1826–1827–1828–1829, sous le Commandement de M.J. Dumont D'Urville. Faune entomologique de l'Océan Pacifique, avec l'illustration des insectes nouveaux recueillis pendant le Voyage. Part 1. Lépidoptères. Paris : J. Tastu pp. iv 5–267 [231].

Cryptophasa rubescens. Duncan, 1852, Entomology, Exotic Moths,  in Jardine, W. ed, The Naturalist’s Library, vol XXXII, 117-123 [120].

Cryptophasa rubescens Lewin. Zeller, 1853, Microlepédoptera [S.l. : s.n.] [350].

Cryptophaga rubescens Lew. Meyrick, 1890: Descriptions of Australian Lepidoptera. Part I. Xyloryctidae. Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia 13: 23–81 [35].

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

Cryptophaga rubescens Lew. Walsingham, 1898: Proceedings of the Entomological Society of London, vii-xii.

Cryptophaga rubescens Lw. Turner, 1898. The Xyloryctidae of Queensland. Annals of the Queensland Museum 4: 1–32 [8].

Cryptophaga rubriginosa (nomen nudum). Froggatt, W. W., 1907, Australian Insects, Sydney, i-xiv, 1-449, 37 pls., (279).

Cryptophaga rubescens. Eltringham, 1919: Note on a remarkable pupal structure. Proc. ent. Soc. Lond. 1919: xiv-v.

Cryptophaga rubescens. Philpott, 1927: The Maxillae in the Lepidoptera. Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand, Vol. 57, 721-745 [735].

Cryptophasa sarcoxantha Meyrick, 1937. New species of pyrales and microlepidoptera from the Deutches Entomologisches Institut. Arbeiten über Morphologische und Taxonomische Entomologie aus Berlin-Dahlem 4: 203–204 [204]. Holotype DEIB ♂, Sydney, NSW.

Cryptophasa rubescens Lew. Common, 1970: Lepidoptera (Moths and Butterflies), The Insects of Australia, Melbourne University Press, 765-866 (824).

Cryptophasa rubescens Lewin. D’Abrera, 1974, Moths of Australia, Lansdowne Press, Melburne, 1-79 (48).

Cryptophasa rubescens Lew. Common, 1990, Moths of Australia, Melbourne University Press. 227-230 [221, 230].

Cryptophasa rubescens Lewin, 1805. 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 rubescens. Zborowski and Edwards, 2007, A Guide to Australian Moths, CSIRO, 1-214 [77].

Cryptophasa rubescens Lewin, 1805. 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 26 April 2010].

Cryptophasa rubescens Lewin, 1805. 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, Lewin 1805

Pl. 12: Lewin, 1805, pre-publication print, State Library of NSW

 

Fam. BOMBYX. Sec. CRYPTOPHASA.

Cryptophasa Rubescens. Pl. 12.

Specific description.

Bombyx Cryptophasa with yellowish clay-coloured anterior wings, the male having a lighter marking part down the anterior margin, an ablong [sic] mark of the same near the shoulder environed with red: anterior wings of the female pale, and tinctured with rose colour: posterior wings orange-yellow: abdomen with a square mark of red at the base: the whole insect smooth and glossy.

This is a noctivagant, and provident insect in the larva state; its habits and manners differ little from the preceding species [C. albacosta]: our specimen had formed a lodgment in the stem of the Mimosa Ensifolia, as shewn in the plate, having its entrance secured by a covering fabric of excrement, which it webbed down close when within, but left unfastened the leaves it had brought for food, in its nightly excursions. The leaves of this tree are lanceolate and of such a length, as to preclude the possibility of being taken wholly within, the greater part of the leaf therefore is left out, and the larva hawls them in gradually as he consumes them: being full fed it changes to a pupa within this dwelling-place. Remains in this state thirty-eight days, and is on the wing at the end of February, when it inhabits banks of rivers, ponds, and deep gulleys or abrupt valleys; in which situations those trees are also found. The larva cutting off a leaf is shown at 1; the pupa in the wood at 2; the female moth at 4; and the male at 3.

 

OBS. On the stem of the tree figured in the plate is seen a round hole, and a scar below it, the work of some predecessor of this wood-boring moth. It is thus that trees have their trunks and timber perforated and exposed to bleedings and decay, by a tribe of seemingly insignificant insects, in New South Wales.

Subsequent description, Boisduval 1832

C. ROUGISSANTE, Rubescens.

Alis anticis albidis, roseo-luteo ablutis; posticis fulvis; thorace albido-carneo; abdomine luteo, macula dorsali sanguinea.

Ailes blanchâtres, lavées de rose et de jaunâtre; les inférieures fauves; corselet d'un blanc lavé d'incarnat; abdomen jaune, avec une tache dorsale rouge.

Lewin , Prod. Ent., pl. 12, p. 13.

Elle a le port des précédentes et la taille de Lithosia Quadra.

La chenille est un peu velue, d'un brun terreux, avec la tête, le premier anneau et toutes les incisions noirs. Elle vit sur le Mimosa ensifolia.

Nouvelle-Hollande

Subsequent description, Duncan 1852

C. rubescens — Anterior wings yellowish-clay coloured, tinged with rose-colour; posterior wings orange-yellow; abdomen with a square mark of red at the base. Expansion, female two inches; male, an inch and a half.

Lewin, pl 12.

The larva is a nocturnal feeder, like the rest of this tribe, and does not differ much in its habits from the preceding species. It lodges in the stems of the Mimosa ensifolia, having the entrance to its gallery secured by a covering of excrement, which is held fast, when the inmate is within, by a web. The leaves of the mimosa are lanceolate, and of such a length as to preclude the possibility of being taken wholly within; the greater part of the leaf therefore is left out, and the larva hauls them gradually

in as it consumes them. The pupa state continues for thirty-eight days, the moth appearing in the end of February. It frequents banks of rivers, ponds, and deep gulleys; these being the place when the trees it feeds on are usually found.

Subsequent description, Zeller 1853

Rubescens Lewin.

Magna; alis anterioribus oblongis, ♂ fusco-luteis, costa ex basi ultra medium strigaque ante medium pallidis, ♀ luteis, roseo-suffusis; posterioribus dilute ochraceis.

Cryptophasa rubescens Lewin 1. c. p. 13. pl. 12. fig. 1—5. — Thon's Archiv I, S. 36. Taf. 3- fig. 3. a—d.

Vaterland der vorigen. Die Raupe lebt auf gleiche Weise in Mimosa ensifolia; der Schmetterling kommt nach einer längern Puppenruhe zu Ende Februar aus. 

 

Subsequent description, Meyrick 1890

Crypt. rubescens, Lw.

(Cryptophasa rubescens, Lw., Ins. N.S. Wales.)

Male 45mm. Head ochreous-white. Palpi white, second joint reddish-tinged above. Antennae ochreous, base white. Thorax reddish-ochreous, anteriorly rosy-tinged. Abdomen and legs ochreous-orange, anterior legs ochreous - reddish. Forewings oblong, posteriorly slightly dilated, costa slightly arched, apex obtuse, hind margin slightly sinuate, hardly oblique, rounded beneath; 2 from ¾; ferruginous, irrorated with elongate light brownish-ochreous scales; costa broadly suffused with pale ochreous from base to beyond middle, attenuated to a point posteriorly; a short obscure dark fuscous dash or [sic] submedian fold at ¼, and another beyond middle; a small roundish ill-defined dark fuscous spot in disc at 5/8, and another at ¾, more elongate: cilia ferruginous. Hindwings with veins 6 and 7 from a point or short-stalked; ochreous-orange, somewhat paler posteriorly; cilia light orange, becoming ferruginous around apex.

Duaringa and Brisbane, Queensland; Newcastle and Sydney, New South Wales; bred not uncommonly in November. Larva residing in a barricaded tunnel in stems of Acacia longifolia, carrying in the phyllodia for food, in August and September.

Other references:

Cryptophaga rubescens, Lw. (Cryptophasa rubescens Lewin, Ins, N.S.W) Meyrick, 35. Brisbane: larvae on various species of Acacia. (Turner, 1898).

Fig 73, Cryptophasa rubescens, maxillary palp, Philpott 1927

Good examples of progressive reduction in the maxillary palpi are exhibited in this large family. Lichenaula has a five-segmented palp; the genera Telecrates, Odites, Procometis, Agriophora [sic], Chalarotona, Scieropepla, Eschatura, Uzucha, and Catoryctis have each lost a segment; Xylorycta and Maroga have only three remaining; Cryptophaga rubescens has two, with a third represented by a minute papilla, while in C. nubila this papilla ,has been lost. (Philpott, 1927).

C. rubriginosa is nearly as large as the last [C. irrorata]; the fore wings are reddish brown. There is a salmon tint on the thorax extending on to the base of the fore wings; the hind wings are brownish yellow. The larvae feed in the stems and branches of several species of Acacia. (Froggatt, 1927).

Fig 36.32E: Cryptophasa rubescens Common 1970

C. rubescens Lew. (Fig 36.32E) tunnels in the stems of Acacia, covering the entrance with a web of silk, and feeding on leaves it drags to the tunnel. (Common, 1970).

Cryptophasa rubescens D’Abrera 1974

The genus Cryptophasa contains some beautifully marked species. C. irrorata Lewin and C. rubescens Lewin are two of the commoner species. (D’Abrera, 1974).

Fig 79.5: Cryptophasa rubescens pupa, Common, 1990

The pupae are cylindrical, usually with sclerotised flanges on the abdominal segments, and sometimes, as in C. rubescens, with grotesque sclerotised structures on the head (Eltringham 1919). (Common, 1990).

Pl. 6.2: Cryptophasa rubescens Common 1990

C. rubescens Lew. (Pl. 6.2) has a similar broad distribution, [southern Queensland to Tasmania] but its larva bores in the stems and branches of Acacia (Mimosaceae), feeding on the phyllodes which it attaches at the tunnel entrance. (Common, 1990).

Cryptophasa rubescens is a large, common moth found from Coen, Queensland to Melbourne, Victoria. The larvae bore into many stems of Acacia and cut leaves that they tie with silk to webbing at the entrance to their hole. They then feed on those leaves as they dry out. This is a male. (Zborowski and Edwards, 2007).

Diagnosis:

Description:

Head:

♀ - Cryptophasa rubescens, head. IM06-0546 Imbil, QLD

Thorax:

Cryptophasa rubescens, wing venation

Abdomen:

Cryptophasa rubescens, male genitalia, IM06-0543, Imbil, Qld.

Cryptophasa rubescens, aedeagus, IM06-0543, Imbil, Qld.

Male genitalia:

Uncus dorsally deeply divided into two lobes, fusing apically; apex dorsally curved, ventrally slightly hooked, strongly sclerotised; a large acute ventral process joined to apex of uncus by a narrow blade. Gnathos with two arms joined at apex, laterally fused to uncus, apex narrow, upturned, rounded, strongly sclerotised. Tegumen broad, sides straight, margins and a dorsal band slightly sclerotised. Vinculum with sclerotised margins, less so towards base, joined in a point. Saccus acutely pointed at base. Juxta u-shaped, rounded. Valva long, mesally dilate, apically very slightly upturned; setose throughout, except bare area (‘sinus’) below clasper; longer sparse setae towards proximal end, dense at apex. Costa of valva sinuate, with two gentle concavities; apex of valva rounded, setose throughout, although bare at base; longer sparse setae towards proximal end, dense at apex. Post-saccular margin of valva gently rounded; more rounded at apex and towards base, with a sclerotised join between ala valvae and basis valvae. Sacculus with base pointed, broadening to base of clasper; thence long, tapering; deeply indented by clasper (‘sinus’); lower  saccular margin straight, very slightly sinuate, slight rounded convexity at base, apex long and tapering. Claspers stalked, arising from inner saccular margin; laminate, tapering, incurved at serrulate apex; a dense band of fine setae along distal half;  lower edge straight, recurved, mesally broader, tapering to apex. Anellus long, tapering, tubular, ventrally divided. Aedeagus long, tapering, gently curved towards proximal end.

Cryptophasa rubescens, female genitalia, IM06-0351, Imbil, Qld.

Food plants: Larva boring in stem tying cut phyllodes at entrance to bore. Larval foodplants: Acacia longifolia, A. linifolia, Acacia spp. (Mimosaceae). (Edwards, 2003).

Flight period: September, November, December, January, February.

Distribution: New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria. Endemic. (Edwards, 2003).

Remarks:

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