''Xylorycta austera'' is a

moth Moths are a paraphyletic group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not butterflies, with moths making up the vast majority of the order. There are thought to be approximately 160,000 species of moth, many of w ...

in the family

Xyloryctidae Xyloryctidae is a family of moths contained within the superfamily Gelechioidea described by Edward Meyrick in 1890. Most genera are found in the Indo-Australian region. While many of these moths are tiny, some members of the family grow to a win ...

. It was described by

Thomas Pennington Lucas Thomas Pennington Lucas (13 April 1843 – 15 November 1917), also known as T.P. Lucas, was a Scotland, Scottish-born Australian medical practitioner, Natural history, naturalist, author, philosopher and utopianist. Early life Lucas was born ...

in 1898. It is found in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, where it has been recorded from

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

and

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

. The

wingspan The wingspan (or just span) of a bird or an airplane is the distance from one wingtip to the other wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777–200 has a wingspan of , and a wandering albatross (''Diomedea exulans'') caught in 1965 had a wingspan of ...

is 24–35 mm. The forewings are cream colour, with chocolate-fuscous longitudinal bifurcating bands, the first along the costa, the second from the centre of the base of the wing, bifurcating at one-sixth, the inner branch to the anal angle of the hindmargin, the other toward the costa. This again bifurcates beyond the middle of the wing, the one branch to the costa before and along the apex, the other to the hindmargin before the middle. The third has the form of a border band from near the base along the inner margin, thinning out to the anal angle. There is a discoidal spot at two-thirds, touching the band to the hindmargin. There is also a row of fine lines beyond and below this to the hindmargin.McMillan, Ian (30 June 2010)
"''Xylorycta austera ''(T.P. Lucas, 1898)"
''Xyloryctine Moths of Australia''. Retrieved 14 July 2020.

References

Xylorycta Moths described in 1898 {{Xyloryctidae-stub