Family COSSIDAE

Cossidae

© Copyright CSIRO Entomology.

Museums

Regional Maps

Introduction

[After Edwards 1996]
The first known Australian Cossidae, Endoxyla lituratus (Donovan), was described by Donovan (1805). Unfortunately, at the same time, he attributed Cossus nebulosis Donovan to Australia but it is from Africa. Australian Cossidae were listed by Walker (1856a), they were included in Seitz's Macrolepidoptera of the World by Gaede (1933b) and were again listed in Lepidopterorum Catalogus by Dalla Torre (1923). Oberthür (1916) published a particularly useful volume illustrating correctly some Australian species and Turner (1945c) revised the Australian Cossidae. Schoorl (1990) redefined the family and some genera, and excluded some Australian species from the Cossidae but they are included here as he was unable to provide an alternative placing for them. The genera used here follow Schoorl (1990). There has been no modern revision of the Australian Cossidae.

Australian cossids occur throughout the continent although only a few species are found in Tasmania. Most Australian species are not closely related to the oriental fauna but a small number of species inhabiting tropical rainforest in Australia are related to the oriental fauna and possibly five or six species are shared with New Guniea.

There are 86 described species known from Australia and many undescribed species.

The female of Endoxla macleayi (Froggatt) is the heaviest Australian moth and possibly the heaviest in the world.

The larvae of Cossidae cause damage to Eucalyptus forests by boring in the wood. McInnes & Carne (1978) provide details of the early stages of Endoxyla cinereus (Tepper). They were also an important item of food for the aborigines (Tindale 1953b) and today there is much interest in the wijuti grub, a subterranean cossid larva used as food. Our knowledge of the group is typified by the fact that, while the term witjuti grub is household name, the actual species of cossid to which it belongs to is not known.

General References

Dalla Torre, K.W. von 1923. Cossidae. Lepidopterorum Catalogus 29: 1-63

Donovan, E. 1805. An Epitome of the Natural History of the Insects of New Holland, New Zealand, New Guinea, Otaheite, and other Islands in the Indian, Southern, and Pacific Oceans: including Figures and Descriptions of One Hundred and Fifty-three Species of the more Splendid, Beautiful, and Interesting Insects, hitherto Discovered in those Countries, and which for the most Part have not appeared in the Works of any Preceding Author. London : Rivington iv + [167] pp. + [41] pls. [Date published January]

Edwards, E.D. 1996. Coccidae. pp. 119-121 in Nielsen, E.S., Edwards, E.D. & Rangsi, T.V. (eds). Checklist of the Lepidoptera of Australia. Monographs on Australian Lepidoptera. Collingwood : CSIRO Publishing Vol. 4 xiv 529 pp. & CD-ROM.

Gaede, M. 1933. [Cossidae] Cossus-Holocerus, Alphabetical List. 809-824, pls 93, 96-99 in Seitz, A. (ed.). The Macrolepidoptera of the World. 10. Bombyces and Sphinges of the Indo-Australian Region. 2 vols. Stuttgart : Alfred Kernen Verlag 909 pp., 100 pls.

McInnes, R.S. & Carne, P.B. 1978. Predation of cossid moth larvae by Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos causing losses in plantations of Eucalyptus grandis in north coastal New South Wales. Australian Wildlife Research 5: 101-121

Oberthür, C. 1916. Contribution a l'étude des grands Lépidoptères d'Australie. Notes critique et descriptions de trois espèces nouvelles. pp. 47-57, pls 17-41 In: Oberthür, C. (ed.) Etudes Lépid. comp. 11bis: 47-57, pls 17-41.

Schoorl, J.W. 1990. A phylogenetic study on Cossidae (Lepidoptera: Ditrysia) based on external adult morphology. Zoologische Verhandelingen (Leiden) 263: 1-295

Tindale, N.B. 1953. On some Australian Cossidae including the moth of the Witjuti (Whitchety) grub. Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia 76: 56-65, pl. 5

Turner, A.J. 1945. A revision of the Australian Cossidae (Lepidoptera). Proceedings of the Royal Society of Queensland 56: 47-70

Walker, F. 1856. Lepidoptera Heterocera. List of the Specimens of Lepidopterous Insects in the Collection of the British Museum 7: 1508-1808 [incl. Index to parts 1-7] [published May 1856]

History of changes