''Lichenaula appropinquans'' is a

moth Moths are a group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not Butterfly, butterflies. They were previously classified as suborder Heterocera, but the group is Paraphyly, paraphyletic with respect to butterflies (s ...

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 wing ...

. 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 bor ...

in 1901. It is found in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, where it has been recorded from

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

and

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

. The

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

is 17–23 mm. The forewings are white suffused with grey, and densely irrorated (sprinkled) with blackish-fuscous scales, with blackish-fuscous markings. The costa is narrowly edged with white and a circular dentate black band crosses the wing close to the base, diffused into a broader band along the inner margin, ending in a prominent circular spot at one-fourth of the inner margin. There is a broken band of four diffused spots from halfway the costa to halfway the inner margin, as well as a spot on the costa which is most prominent. A diffused spot is found between the inner marginal spot at one-fourth and the costa and there is also a spot at half. Beyond a row of four spots are two different dots, one over the median vein, and the other close to the inner margin at three-fifths. A costal row of diffused spots subtends a suffusion of grey and fuscous over the centre of the wing, extending to a large pronounced blotch which runs toward the inner margin near the anal angle and a submarginal band does not touch margins. There is also a hindmarginal band of minute diffused dots. The hindwings are smokey grey, lighter towards the base.

References

Lichenaula Moths described in 1901 {{Xyloryctidae-stub