#2100 & 2101 - Brachychiton populneus & Dichocrocis clytusalis - Kurrajong & Kurrajong Bag Moth
The common names drives from Carrejun and carrejan - the indigenous names of the trees in the Blue Mountains foothills near Sydney. Brachychiton refers to the 'short tunics' of the seeds.
Kurrajongs are Australian trees in the same family as Hibiscus, with water-storing trunks and leaves that may be up to 9-lobed, or simple with pendulous tips as here. It grows in Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland, from wetter areas and out into dry country, but has become somewhat invasive in SW Australia where it was introduced as an ornamental.
Indigenous peoples used the tree's seeds as food when cleaned and roasted, the seed pods as toys, the soft spongey wood as a water source and for shields, and the bark as a source of fibre. Apparently the seeds can also be used as a coffee substitute, if you're desperate.
The moths responsible for the object in the second photo are also known as Kurrajong Leaf-tiers, from their habit of binding leaves together with silk (often comunally) and emerge at night to skeletonise them. They also feed on Brachychiton rupestris (the Queensland Bottle Tree) and Brachychiton acerifolium (Flame Tree). Both species, like the Kurrajong, are popular oranmental trees, making the moths a bit of a problem for saplings, if they occur in large numbers.
The adult is photographed below, by Donald Hobern
