Termessa congrua (Walker, 1865)
Lichen moth
T. laeta
Click to enlarge image
© Australian Museum
Fast Facts
-
Classification
- Genus
- Termessa
- Species
- congrua
- Subfamily
- Lithosiinae
- Family
- Arctiidae
- Super Family
- Noctuoidea
- Order
- Lepidoptera
- Class
- Insecta
- Phylum
- Arthropoda
- Kingdom
- Animalia
-
- Life history mode
- terrestrial, volant
Introduction
Termessa congrua is poorly represented in museum collections.
Identification
Similar to T. laeta, but males have both hind and forewings with similar rich orange ground colour, have the anterior dorsal edge of the thorax yellow.
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
Specimens in ANIC from Killarney, Isla Gorge, Gayndah, Eidsvold, Brisbane (QLD) and Singleton, Coraki (NSW)
Seasonality
September to November
Feeding and diet
Larvae probably feed on lichens
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.
