Animal Species:Termessa conographa (Meyrick, 1886)
The distribution of T. conographa extends further north into Queensland compared to the similar T. discrepans
Lithosiinae Termessa conographa pale male
David Britton
© David Britton
Alternative Name/s
Lichen moth
Identification
One of two species of Termessa with falcate (hooked) wingtips. T. conographa has two forms, one which has a solid black marking on the forewing ("dark"), and one which has this marking divided ("pale"). Neither form has the black marking reaching to the front edge of the forewing as in T. discrepans.
DISCLAIMER: The identifications presented on these pages should be taken as indicative only. As with many groups of Australian insects there has been no formal revision of the Lithosiinae in recent years, and there are many undescribed species present in collections. Many species are superficially similar, and require a specialist to separate them.
Distribution
Central NSW north to Atherton Tableland
Distribution by collection data
Biomaps map of Termessa conographa specimens from the Australian Museum database
Habitat
Rainforests
Feeding and Diet
Larvae probably feed on lichen
Classification
- Species:
- conographa
- Genus:
- Termessa
- Subfamily:
- Lithosiinae
- Family:
- Arctiidae
- Superfamily:
- Noctuoidea
- Order:
- Lepidoptera
- Class:
- Insecta
- Phylum:
- Arthropoda
- Kingdom:
- Animalia
Further Reading
The majority of images of Lithosiinae presented on these pages were taken from specimens housed in the Australian National Insect Collection (ANIC) (CSIRO, Canberra). I would like to thank the staff and researchers at ANIC for their generous assistance in providing me access to this collection, and I acknowledge the depth of effort and the investment of staff time that has gone into building and curating this splendid resource. In particular, I would like to thank Ted Edwards and Marianne Horak for their assistance.
Dr
Dave Britton
, Collection Manager, Entomology
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