Insects
Moths (Lepidoptera)
Curved-horn moths (all Gelechioidea except Oecophoridae)
Sighting 4574989

Cryptophasa irrorata

A Gelechioid moth (Xyloryctidae) at WendyM's farm at Freshwater Ck.

Cryptophasa irrorata at WendyM's farm at Freshwater Ck. - 6 Feb 2023 10:31 PM
Cryptophasa irrorata at WendyM's farm at Freshwater Ck. - 6 Feb 2023 10:31 PM
Request use of media

Identification history

Cryptophasa irrorata 3 Jun 2025 WendyEM
Cryptophasa irrorata 10 Jun 2024 WendyEM
Cerambycidae (family) 10 Jun 2024 donhe
Xyloryctidae (family) 9 Jun 2024 WendyEM

Identify this sighting

Please Login or Register to identify this sighting.

User's notes

Possibly Cryptophasa irrorata larvae. Live in tunnels in the trees branches. Go out and collect foliage to eat. They pull it into the hole and eat from the safety of the tunnel. Frass also accumulated around opening.

9 comments

donhe wrote:
   10 Jun 2024
Possibly. But I think you should cut the wood open and see what is actually producing the frass rather than speculating.
WendyEM wrote:
   10 Jun 2024
I doubt a Loghonrn larvae could climb around outside the hole collecting twigs to eat. I believe they are entirely borers
WendyEM wrote:
   10 Jun 2024
"Xyloryctides include large species which bore in stems .... Cryptophasa lays eggs on the bark of hosts. Young larvae burrow into the wood, often near a fork, and enlarge the tunnel as they grow. The entrance is concealed under a granular webbing of frass and silk. The caterpillars emerge at night to feed on bark and leaves which they drag back to their tunnel to eat." p.46 Caterpillars, Moths and their plants of southern Australia by Peter McQuillan, Jan Forrest, David Keane & Roger Grund 2019 Publ. Butterfly Conservation South Australia Inc. c/o South Australian Museum, North Terrace, Adelaide, SA, 5000
WendyEM wrote:
   10 Jun 2024
re longhorns - larvae are basically a tunnel boring 'machine' see Sighting 4564215, 3401617, 3878426, 4256077 they have little or no legs
WendyEM wrote:
   10 Jun 2024
on Cryptophasa irrorata see https://xyloryctinemothsofaustralia.blogspot.com/search?q=Cryptophasa+irrorata note Pl. 10: Lewin 1805, pre-publication print, State Library of NSW, also the 'Specific Description' lower down
donhe wrote:
   10 Jun 2024
But there is no photo of the larva showing whether it has legs or not, nor of it dragging a leaf into its borehole, so if these were observed during this sighting, it would be good to add comments to that effect, to assist with identification.
WendyEM wrote:
   10 Jun 2024
No, I was going from circumstantial evidence. Going by plate 10 by Lewin 1805 and other plates on the species page on XyloryctineMothsOfAustralia. Lewin, who 1st described the species, gave a detailed description of the larval process. I regularly record the adults in the vicinity. I have observed the larvae, or at least ones that look very much like those in Lewin's plate 10 on Allocasuarinas elsewhere on the block. This was an interesting observation I will post when I get to it in my records. YES I did try to raise them - but failed. Noel McFarland in Portraits of South Australian Geometrid Moths, 1988 mentioned with some species he tried to raise on Casuarina sp needed the foliage aged - something to do with toxins or something. If I get the chance again I may need to try that. Should I ever spot one of the larvae come out of its bore hole at night I will certainly photograph and observe that. I am not prepared to chop up my trees to extract them. It takes a LOT of work revegetating on this soil plus with the failing rainfall.
donhe wrote:
   10 Jun 2024
Yes documenting larvae properly is non-trivial.
Lewin and the Scott sisters drew similar pictures showing accumulated frass at the borehole mouth for Cryptophasa pultenae, Maroga melanostigma, and Aenetus splendens. Considering how few Xyloryctidae and Hepialidae larvae have been documented, one may expect that other species may have similar habits.
Do we know that no Cerambicidae larvae species leave frass at the borehole entrance? That seems undocumented in the cited sightings.
The shape of the larva seems irrelevant, as this sighting includes no larval photo.
I think 'immature insect' is as far as we can go.
WendyEM wrote:
   3 Jun 2025
I have documented (photographed) the following Xyloryctinae moths on this property - Clerarcha dryinopa, Cryptophasa irrorata, Cryptophasa rubescens, Lichenaula choriodes, Plectophila discalis, Scieropepla polyxesta, Tymbophora peltastis & Xylorycta leucophanes. The 2 Cryptophasa sp are large enough for a larva of this size. Common 1990 list Casuasina as foodplant for Cryptophasa irrorata. Cryptophasa rubescens foodplant is Acacia sp - https://xyloryctinemothsofaustralia.blogspot.com/search?q=Cryptophasa+rubescens
I frequently find C. irrorata moths sitting in Allocasuarinas including a pair Sighting 4662807.

Please Login or Register to comment.

Location information

Sighting information

Additional information

  • Allocasuarina verticulata Associated plant
  • 12mm to 25mm Animal size
  • Alive / healthy Animal health

Species information

Record quality

  • Images or audio
  • More than one media file
  • Verified by an expert moderator
  • Nearby sighting(s) of same species
  • GPS evidence of location
  • Description
  • Additional attributes
821,145 sightings of 22,456 species from 14,159 members
CCA 3.0 | privacy
We acknowledge the Traditional Owners of this land and acknowledge their continuing connection to their culture. We pay our respects to their Elders past and present.