Tineoidea (superfamily)
Clothes and Bag moths, and close relatives at Moruya, NSW
Identify this sighting
| Tineoidea (superfamily) | donhe | 18 Apr 2024 | |
| Tineoidea (superfamily) | MichaelBedingfield | 17 Apr 2024 | |
| Scarabaeinae (subfamily) | MichaelBedingfield | 15 Apr 2024 | |
| Unverified | LisaH | 12 Apr 2024 |
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User's notes
This was an owl pellet - shards of bone, including jaw and teeth (saved), and fur. However, when I looked a bit more closely, the pellet had divided into smaller pellets, and each of these was moving. A larva was in each pellet, and as I watched, I saw larva gather more material from a nearby pellet, pulling on the fur, and fitting it into their cocoon. Weird to observe (lots of video), and I have no idea what they are. There were also many ants.
3 comments
12 Apr 2024
@LisaH : Maybe larva of a Trisyntopa or Monopis moth species ? Hope you can rear it and get an adult moth for an ID?
16 Apr 2024
I have never heard previously of scarab larvae making fibre covered cases like Tineoidae larvae do. I thought they were C grubs with fat white bodies ?
16 Apr 2024
Unfortunately, I don’t think - (or have capacity) to collect any specimens - and I was at a loss as to what they would eat, as I wasn’t sure what they were? However, I did grab some of the pellet that didn’t have larvae, as well as all the jaw bone and teeth I could find. I’m interested to know tha dung beetles deal with owl pellets as well as dung?
Location information
- Places Moruya, NSW
Sighting information
- 4 - 15 Abundance
- LisaH Recorded by
- 5mm to 12mm Animal size
- Alive / healthy Animal health
Collections
Species information
- Tineoidea (superfamily) Scientific name
- Clothes and Bag moths, and close relatives Common name
- Not Sensitive
- Local native
- Non-invasive or negligible
- Up to 570.81m Recorded at altitude
- External link More information
Record quality
Quality score
5 / 7
- Images or audio
- More than one media file
- Verified by an expert moderator
- Description
- Additional attributes
- Nearby sighting(s) of same species
- GPS evidence of location