Specimen collected by @dianadavey on 8/7/24 from Wooli, NSW, and sent to me to rear (same specimen as appears in https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/227899469). I received it on 15/7/24 and the adult moth eclosed today sometime between 2:30-3:10pm. Looks like it’s probably in the Lepidoscia genus, but I’m struggling to identify it. It’s in a glass specimen tube, which made taking photos a bit tricky.
@ethanbeaver - Are you able to identify this one?
On Persoonia lanceolata
Host: Notelaea longifolia
Titirangi Village, Auckland.
The plants are tubestock Glochidium sumatranum in a native plant nursery in Brisbane.
On Eucalypt. It appears to move around the leaf. I am calling it the frass tube moth! I will try to rear it through.
Still alive 31 Oct 2023. Now quite a bit bigger and was moving around yesterday. Today fixed to side of container so presumably larva is pupating.
10 Nov 2023 Larvae now lying on a piece of leaf which it has cut to exactly fit its shape. I promise I did not do any cutting myself!
No one I have spoken to has any idea what this larva is. I have not been able to find any more. However I think now it is preparing for pupation and the shape of it looks different.
In evening of 10 Nov the larva turned over so that the cut out leaf formed the "roof" covering while attaching to leaf underneath
11 Nov 2023 Second specimen found on Acacia marginata at same locality as other one. Exactly the same but half the size. Uncertain if still alive.
Reared from mines and pupa here https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/165585791
each picture is an individual
This colony was accidentally found inside of a hollow wooden gall (the left of the two in the first image). The gall was about the size of a golf ball and was found attached to to a Lantana canara stem. When the gall was split open, this small colony was revealed (including workers, winged queens, and drones). In the centre of the last image, a larger worker can be seen standing almost on top of a much smaller worker
Beautiful swirling mines on Stirlingia latifolia leaves. Mine statys with these swirling circles then ends in a linear tube. The second and third image show the same mine, starting with the swirl and ending with the linear tunnel. The larvae could be visible right at the end.
I have uploaded quite a few images of these mines because each one is slightly different and some do not follow the circular protocol!
I would love to know what these beautiful mines are!
23 August 2023 This morning a larva emerged from one of the mines. It has prolegs. Appears to be spinning a cocoon.
Host Plant: Eucalyptus socialis socialis.
Onehunga Bay Reserve, Onehunga, Auckland 1061.
Larvae mining Melaleuca armillaris.
On Commersonia bartramia.
About 4 mm. Covered in various things including a fly wing and possibly vegetation and dirt crumbs when first seen.
Some kind of alga, I think, found on a hunk of rotting stump. It dried out before I could examine it under the microscope, but rehydrated quickly. Photos 3-4 taken using a Foldscope microscope; the aperture measures a little under 1 mm.
284 West Coast Rd, Glen Eden, Auckland 0602. Pupal case on a mined Melaleuca armillaris.
Reared from Wilkiea hugeliana leaf collected from forest understorey. There were multiple larva in each leaf. All larva pupated by 23/09/21. The first moth emerged on the 29/09/21.
18A Revel Ave, Mount Roskill, Auckland. At light.
Auckland Domain, Parnell, Auckland. A few mined leaves on Melaleuca armillaris, some containing a live larva.
78 Old Mill Rd, Westmere, Auckland 1022. Live larvae in blotch mines on leaves of a cultivated Hardenbergia comptoniana.
On Atractocarpus benthamianu
On Wilkiea hugeliana
On Dysoxylum pachyphyllum
Host species is Acacia pycnantha.
The plant is breynia 'ironstone range' Could this pattern be made by Phyllocnistes diaugella? I have read that a breynia is the host plant for this species.
With Minor insect damage
Western Springs Lakeside Park, Western Springs, Auckland 1022. On Corymbia ficifolia.
Photos 1-2 show an adult moth, photos 3-6 show cocoons containing live pupae, photos 7-8 show a leaf mine.
On Acronychia imperforata
Leaf miner on Xylomelum salicinum
Night of 6 Aug. Waning moon, clouds 4/8, 15-deg, wind 6kmph (down from 25kmph at dusk). Caught approx 143/70 moths, 14 Trichoptera, etc.
Found on Gardenia.
Will have to investigate further in the future.
Found on cultivated Banksia integrifolia. Dead leaf mine, miner has already left.
For the insect ID
Or some other insects