Lichenaula lichenea

Lichenaula lichenea is a species of moth of the family Xyloryctidae. It is known in Australia from the Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales and Queensland.

Adults are on wing in March and April.

Original description
"Both sexes 15-21 mm. Head white. Palpi white, base of second joint, and base and apex of terminal joint blackish. Antennae white, annulated with blackish, ciliations in male 1. Thorax white, sprinkled with-black, and with a black transverse anterior spot on back. Abdomen grey or grey-whitish. Legs white, anterior and middle pair banded with blackish. Forewings elongate, costa gently arched, apex rounded, hind margin very obliquely rounded; 7 to apex or near below it; ochreous-white, with some scattered black scales; markings brown or grey, densely irrorated with black; a slender irregular oblique fascia near base, generally more or less broadly dilated on lower half; a moderate irregular spot on middle of inner margin; a dot in disc at ½; a small spot in middle of disc, and a furcate mark on inner margin before anal angle, both often much enlarged and suffused so as to become confluent into a cloudy irregular fascia, connecting above with a small spot on costa beyond middle, whence proceeds an irregular somewhat outwards-curved transverse line, sometimes interrupted in disc, to rejoin ante-anal spot of inner margin; often a separate dot within enclosed space; two marks on costa towards apex; a suffused more or less developed subapical spot; a slender streak along hindmargin; all these markings very variable in size and suffusion: cilia ochreous-white, barred with grey, bars densely irrorated with black on basal half. Hindwings varying from rather dark grey to pale whitish-grey; cilia whitish, with a grey line.

Sydney, Bathurst (2,500 feet), and Cooma (3,000 feet), New South Wales; Melbourne, Victoria; common from November to April, at rest on fences and rocks. Larva 16-legged, moderate, cylindrical, with rather long scattered whitish hairs; grey; dorsal, subdorsal, lateral, and spiracular lines dark grey, irregular: spots moderate, black; head blackish; second segment whitish-grey, with a blackish divided plate; anal segment blackish: feeds on lichen-dust on fences and rocks, forming a tunnel in a crevice for shelter, and feeding beneath a gallery of web and refuse, in August and September. The species is a very variable one, and the varieties show some tendency to be localised."

- Edward Meyrick

Food plants
The larvae feed on lichens growing on fences and rocks, sheltering in a gallery of silk and refuse particles