DOI: 10.15468/sdyamy
title: Rediscovery and life history of Bathromelas hyaloscopa (Meyrick & Lower, 1907) Lepidoptera: Psychidae: Oiketicinae

description: This dataset contains the digitized treatments in Plazi based on the original journal article Beaver, Ethan P. (2023): Rediscovery and life history of Bathromelas hyaloscopa (Meyrick & Lower, 1907) Lepidoptera: Psychidae: Oiketicinae. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum | Nature 64: 260-272, DOI: 10.17082/j.2204-1478.64.2023.2022-02, URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.17082/j.2204-1478.64.2023.2022-02ABSTRACTThe rarely seen Bathromelas Turner 1947, a monotypic Australian endemic genus with the species Bathromelas hyaloscopa (Meyrick & Lower, 1907), is rediscovered, and a new description is provided. The male genitalia, female, pupae of both sexes, late instar larvae, and the unique case design are all figured and described for the first time. The larval host plant is identified as Allocasuarina luehmannii (Casuarinaceae), with B. hyaloscopa regarded as a Casuarinaceae specialist, unusual as oiketicine psychids are typically polyphagous. Prior to this study the species was known from only three male specimens, with the most recent of those collected in 1938. The data for all known and new specimens is included, and a brief discussion on the systematic affinity of this genus is provided.The case moths or bagworms, family Psychidae, are a familiar sight across much of Australia, where their prominent and intricately constructed larval cases are frequently found attached to plants, fences, buildings, or almost any available vertical surface. Although some taxa are abundant and ubiquitous, others are very rarely seen, one such being the endemic but obscure Bathromelas Turner, 1947, with the single species B. hyaloscopa (Meyrick & Lower, 1907), a name based on a single male specimen in SAM from ‘north-west Victoria’. In their original description, Meyrick & Lower (1907) placed this species within Plutorectis Meyrick & Lower, now considered a synonym of Lomera Walker, 1855 (Betrem 1951). Turner (1947) described the genus Bathromelas for this species, and refers to an additional specimen from Injune, Qld in QM. A second Injune specimen is in ANIC. This and the QM specimen were both collected in 1938, with no adult specimens having been collected since. No publication has dealt with this genus beyond that of well-known checklists (i.e. Nielsen & Edwards 1996, Sobczyk 2011), and no new information on this taxon has been published since Turner’s 1947 paper.In 2021–2022 the author travelled through rural New South Wales and Queensland and collected a series (n= 15) of live larvae and empty larval cases of a large and distinctive psychid, all from between Yetman, NSW and Injune, Qld. The case design was unusual (Fig. 3) and did not conform to any described species or case structure, but were identical to an empty case present in the SAM collection, and a further case from the QM collection. Neither of these two museum specimens were associated with an emerged adult or a correct identification. Subsequent rearing of the larval material collected in 2021–22 has confirmed the identity of these larvae and larval cases as that of Bathromelas hyaloscopa (and with it the confirmation of host plant, habitat, larval and pupal morphology, case design, and adult female morphology) and has provided enough additional male specimens for genitalia dissection, all of which was previously unknown.