Cryptophasa flavolineata

Cryptophasa flavolineata (Walker, 1864)

Cryptophasa flavolineata,♀ - Qld, Mango Tree, McIlwraith Range Lat.13’ 45” S Long.143’ 22” E, 11. Jul. 1989, E.S. Nielsen E.D. Edwards & M. Horak leg. (ANIC). [AMO].

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

Cryptolechia flavolineata, Walker, 1864, [Gelechiadae] Tineites, List of the Specimens of Lepidopterous Insects in the Collection of the British Museum. Vol. 29. 562–835 pp. [749]. Holotype: BMNH ♀, Sydney, NSW.

Cryptophaga flavolineata, Walk. Meyrick, 1890: Descriptions of Australian Lepidoptera. Part I. Xyloryctidae. Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia 13: 23–81 [36].

Cryptophaga flavolineata, Walk. Lower, 1894: New Australian Heterocera. Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia 18: 77-113 [89].

Cryptophaga flavolineata. Illidge, 1895: Xylorycts, or timber moths. Queensland Natural History Society Transactions, 1, 29-34 [32].

Cryptophaga flavolineata, Walk. Turner, 1898. The Xyloryctidae of Queensland. Annals of the Queensland Museum 4: 1–32 [11].

Cryptophasa flavolineata (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 [86].

Cryptophasa flavolineata (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 April 2010].

Cryptophasa flavolineata (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 18 June 2010].

Original description, Walker 1864

Cryptolechia flavolineata.

Foem. Argenteo-alba; pedes robusti, tibiis posticis subfimriatis; alae anticae amplae, apice rectangulatae, lineis duabus longitudinalibus flavis.

Female. Silvery white, stout. Palpi smooth, slender, very much longer than the breadth of the head; third joint setiform, as long as the second. Antennae slender. Abdomen, extending rather beyond the hindwings. Legs stout; hind tibiae slightly fringed. Wings long, broad. Fore wings acutely rectangular at the tips, with a yellow line which extends from the middle of the base to the interior border near the end of the latter; another yellow line along the middle of the wing, obsolete towards the base, extending to the exterior border, which is straight and slightly oblique. Length of the body 10 lines [21.2mm]; of the wings 24 lines [50.8mm].

a, Sydney. Presented by E. Doubleday, Esq.

Subsequent description, Meyrick 1890

Crypt. flavolineata, Walk.

(Cryptolechia flavolineata, Walk., 749.)

Female 50mm. Head and palpi white. Antennae white, base of stalk yellowish . Thorax white, with a central longitudinal yellow line. Abdomen white, second segment dull brown-red. Legs white, anterior and middle tibiae ochreous-yellow above. Forewings oblong, posteriorly rather dilated, costa gently arched, apex obtuse, hindmargin straight, slightly oblique, rounded beneath; 2 from 2/3; snow-white; a faint pale yellowish central longitudinal line from before middle of disc almost to hind margin; a suffused ochreous-yellow line along submedian fold from base to anal angle; a short slender ochreous-yellow streak along inner margin about 1/3; cilia white, terminal half ochreous-yellow. Hindwings with veins 8 and 5 from a point [sic]; snow-white; cilia white.

Sydney, New South Wales, in October; one specimen. I suspect the larva to feed on Eucalyptus.

Other references

Cryptophaga flavolineata, Walk.

Both Dr. A. J. Turner and Mr. R. Illidge have bred this species from Eucalyptus growing in and around Brisbane. New South Wales is the only previously recorded locality. (Lower, 1894).

Cryptophaga flavolineata, Walk. (Cryptolechia flavolineata Walker, 749; Cryptophaga flavolineata, Meyrick, 36). Male, 33-36 mm.; antennal pectinations, ½. Female, 39-45 mm.

Brisbane: larvae live in stems of Banksia integrifolia, dragging in leaves for food. (Turner, 1898).

Diagnosis: Medium-sized moths with obliquely truncate wings, with two orange-yellow stripes both originating from the base of the forewing and terminating in the middle of the termen and the angle of the tornus respectively. The uncus of the male genitalia has a double apex, and the anellus is divided and reinforced with sclerotised spines.

Description:

Head:

 Cryptophasa flavolineata, ♂ head. Sheldon, Redland City, Queensland. Collected by P. J. Hendry 18-09-2009.

 Cryptophasa flavolineata, ♂ antennae. K-0772, Kuranda, Queensnd, 16-31 October 2012, Collected by D. Rentz.

♂ antennae in male scaled dorsally, ciliated in fan-shaped fascicles ventrally; after approximately 20 segments the ciliations are borne on short ventral projections, 1 or less. Not in any way pectinate in the accepted sense of the word. Scape broadly thickened with scales, lacking a pecten. This is an antenna typical of the genus Xylorycta.

♀ antennae filiform.

Thorax:

Cryptophasa flavolineata, wing venation

Abdomen: Male genitalia: Uncus deeply divided dorsally into two lobes, divided into two apical processes, slightly downturned. strongly sclerotised at apex. Gnathos fused laterally to uncus, two arms joined at apex, produced anteriorly to form a broad, spathulate rounded lip; strongly sclerotised at apex. Tegumen broad, gently arched, margins sclerotised; articulated with vinculum. Vinculum narrow sclerotised margins, less so at base. Saccus rounded at base. Juxta with lateral sclerotised processes, apex produced, square-ended. Valva long, upturned, tapering. Costa of valva with a very slight inward -facing point near base; sinuate, mesally convex. Apex round-pointed. Lower margin of supravalva gently curved, sinuate, more rounded towards base; sclerotised band between tegumental join and apical end of sacculus. Basis valvae about 50% of total length of valva, elongate-triangular. Sacculus long and narrow, tapering towards base, apex blunt, truncate. Lower saccular margin more or less straight; very slightly curved towards apical end. Claspers joined to the upper saccular margin without a noticeable stalk; extending beyong apex of sacculus; lower margin folded inwards, incurved; terminating in an inwardly curving spine; not noticeably indented from sacculus; apical spine and outer margin sclerotised; a mesal longitudinal band of fine setae near upper margin. Anellus stout, rather long, a cylinder formed of two lobes; four spines on distal 1/3 of inner margins of lobes; distal end of anellus sclerotised. Aedeagus moderately long, mesally curved, tapering towards distal end, apex flared.

Cryptophasa flavolineata, ♂ genitalia, K137, Kuranda, QLD, collected by David Rentz. Photomicrograph taken at ANIC, Canberra.

Cryptophasa flavolineata, ♂ genitalia, K137, Kuranda, QLD, collected by David Rentz.

Cryptophasa flavolineata, tergal abdominal spines on second abdominal segment, K137, Kuranda, QLD, collected by David Rentz. Photomicrograph taken at ANIC, Canberra.

Food plants: Larva boring in stem of food plant and tying cut leaves at entrance to bore. Larval foodplants: Banksia integrifolia (Proteaceae); Syzygium oleosum (Myrtaceae). (Edwards, 2003).

Flight period:  July, September, October, November, December.

Distribution: New South Wales, Queensland, Papua New Guinea. (Edwards, 2003).

Remarks: The male genitalia have an unusual bifurcate uncus and closely resemble those of Xylorycta austera. This bifurcate uncus occurs in the Indian genus Amorbaea Meyrick 1908, and elsewhere in Xylorycta, for example in X. assimilis, but is most unusual for Cryptophasa. 

These two species could be placed together in a genus of their own. There are several other unnamed species that are close relatives.

Barcode results show the two species to be extremely closely related. The main physiological difference is in the wing coloration and shape, X. austera having narrower wings.

Amorbaea subtusvena, Diakonoff 1967, ♂  genitalia

Amorbaea subtusvena, Diakonoff 1967, ♂  aedeagus

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