Favoured Footman Termessa gratiosa (Walker, 1865)
Lichen moth
T. diplographa, T. zonophanes
Click to enlarge image
© Australian Museum
Fast Facts
-
Classification
- Genus
- Termessa
- Species
- gratiosa
- Subfamily
- Lithosiinae
- Family
- Arctiidae
- Super Family
- Noctuoidea
- Order
- Lepidoptera
- Class
- Insecta
- Phylum
- Arthropoda
- Kingdom
- Animalia
-
- Life history mode
- terrestrial, volant
Introduction
The pretty T. gratiosa is one of the most common lichen moths attracted to lights in Sydney over spring
Identification
Fore wings with a cream background, sometimes tinged with yellow, the broad basal black fascia with a pale centre, head with whitish scales. Can be distinguished from the similar T. diplographa by the white ground colour in the forewings and from T. zonophanes by the absence of black scaling near the tip of the abdomen.
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.
Habitat
Forested and heath regions
Distribution
From SE Queensland to Victoria
Seasonality
September to January
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.
