The Stick Case Moth

The other interesting find this past weekend was two case moth cocoons on the grevillea at the front of the house in front of the gas canisters. I recognised them as the 'sleeping bags' that Snuggle Pot and Cuddle Pie had purchased with the money they always kept under their caps. My mother called them 'stick insects'. I can't find any record of them in the Australian Museum site - my usual first port of call for understanding NSW nature. But there are several entries describing them in Queensland and a lovely Aboriginal story about a father who goes on a long journey with his son who becomes weak and sick. He build him a shelter out of bark and sticks and rucks him up in his kangaroos-skin rug. He went away to find food and returned after some days with a possum. On return, his son and his protective 'gunyah' was gone. He leant against a tree and found a loose nob of bark and twigs on the trunk. On looking at it more closely he realised it was a replica of the gunyah he had made his son. He opened it up and found a grub inside and he knew the spirits had taken pity on the boy and saved him from him from death. To this day the grub of the Case-moth always has a gunyah which it builds to protect it and remind it of how, long ago, a father cared enough for his son to build a shelter for him while he sought for food. (www.aboriginalartcentre.com.au/dreamtime%20stories/moth.htm).

From www.brisbaneinsects.com:

The case moths are of the family psychidae. The moths apparently live in a mobile case. The case is made of silk and plant materials. There are a number of different species with different case designs, all of which apparently have an opening at the top and bottom. Most of them feed on a variety of plants. The caterpillar comes out of the top to feed and ejects the waste out the bottom end. The bottom end, which is smaller, is also the exit hatch for the emerging adult. they may take several years to reach the pupation stage. They pupate within the case. The female moth does not develop wings in most cases, but waits for a male to visit her. Females lay eggs in the bag. Baby caterpillars lower themselves to the ground on a silk thread and make themselves a case. Case moth adults do not feed.

I think these look like clania lewinii or something very much like it. I'll try to get a better picture tomorrow.