Vol. LVI., No. 6. 
47 
A REVISION OF THE AUSTRALIAN 
COSSIDAE (LEPIDOPTERA). 
By A. Jefferis Turner, M.D., F.R.E.S. 
(. Received 2 6th June \ , 1944; accepted for publication 31 st July , 1944; 
issued separately 19 th June, 1945.) 
DEFINITION. 
Tongue and maxillary palpi absent. Usually an areole is present 
in the forewing and a median cell in both wings, but there are some 
exceptions. The median vein is present in the lepidopterous cell, and 
usually divides there into its two primary branches, but one of these 
may be absent. The second cubital vein is present in both wings. 
The anal vein in the fore wing is forked at its base. In the hindwing 
there are three anal veins. The larvae are wood-borers. 
The Cossidae, as is shown by their neuration, are the most 
primitive family of the Lepidoptera Heteroneura. In the Transactions 
of the Entomological Society of London for 1918 I gave a general 
review of the family based on the world-fauna, and to this I would 
refer the reader who is interested in its phylogeny. The family is 
present in all temperate and tropical regions, but is more numerous in 
species in Australia than in any other continent. For these two reasons 
their study is of special interest. 
Owing to their cryptic coloration and habit of concealment little 
was known of our Australian species until recently. Only a few were 
named by early writers. It was not until the study of the habits and 
the breeding of the larvae were undertaken, that adequate material for 
description was available. For this we are indebted particularly to 
two collectors, the late Mr. F. P. Dodd and the late Mr. W. B. Barnard. 
An interesting account of the methods of the former is contained in 
Oberthur’s Etudes de Lepidopterologie Comparee xi. (1915). All the 
Australian species and, with the exception of Xyleutes, Zeuzera and 
Dudgeonea, all the genera are endemic. 
Key to Genera. 
1. Forewings without areole 
Forewings with areole 
2. Tibiae with spurs very short or absent 
Tibiae with spurs well developed 
3. Areole with strong posterior projection 
Areole not projecting 
4. Hindwings with subcostal not connected with cell . . 
Hindwings with subcostal connected with cell 
5. Forewings without median cell 
Forewings with median cell 
6. Thorax and abdomen smooth 
Thorax and abdomen hairy 
7. Hindwings with subcostal connected by a bar with 
upper angle of cell 
Hindwings with 11 arising from before end of cell 
and running into subcostal 
Idioses 
2 
3 
9 
4 
8 
5 
7 
Sympycnodes 
6 
Catoxophylla 
Xyleutes 
Zeuzera 
Nepiomorpha 
8 
1 
2 
3 
4 
5 
J 
