Lichen moth Termessa zonophanes Click to enlarge image
Lichen moth Termessa zonophanes Location:QLD: 7 miles NNE of Ravenshoe 3,300ft 22 Apr 1969 I.F.B. Common & M.S. Upton Image: David Britton
© Australian Museum

Fast Facts

  • Classification
    Genus
    Termessa
    Species
    zonophanes
    Subfamily
    Lithosiinae
    Family
    Arctiidae
    Super Family
    Noctuoidea
    Order
    Lepidoptera
    Class
    Insecta
    Phylum
    Arthropoda
    Kingdom
    Animalia
  • Life history mode
    terrestrial, volant

Introduction

T. zonophanes seems to have a strange distribution, with specimens collected from northern Queensland as well as northwestern Victoria.

Identification

T. zonophanes has more black markings on the body compared to similar species such as T. gratiosa and T. diplographa

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

Disjunct records between the Wimmera in Victoria north to Ravenshoe in Queensland.


Distribution data sourced from the Atlas of Living Australia

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.