Cizara ardeniae

Cizara ardeniae (Lewin, 1805)
(erroneously: Sphinx ardenia)
Coprosma Hawk Moth
MACROGLOSSINAE, SPHINGIDAE

Don Herbison-Evans ( donherbisonevans@yahoo.com )
&
Stella Crossley

(updated 15 March 2009)

Cizara ardeniae
early instar

This is a beautiful and interesting Caterpillar. When young, it is translucent green with a black horn on its tail and a yellowish head. It rests lying along a vein on the underside of a leaf. Later, it becomes an opaque green with two yellow stripes running the length of its body. Its head, which is light blue, is only half the width of its body. The tail horn becomes blue and wicked-looking. The horn is in fact quite harmless. It may frighten predators or draw their attention from the less significant head end.

(Photo: courtesy of the Macleay Museum, University of Sydney)

When disturbed, the Caterpillar lashes its head violently from side to side. When mature, the Caterpillar grows to a length of about 6 cms. At its last moult, its coloration changes to diagonal patches of light and dark brown, which blend in well with the patches of light and shade on its food plant. Uniquely amongst the SPHINGIDAE caterpillars, the diagonals slope downward and backward when viewed from the side.

(Photo: courtesy of the Macleay Museum, University of Sydney)

It feeds on various plants from the plant family RUBIACEAE including :

Mirror Bush ( Coprosma repens ),

Prickly Currant Bush ( Coprosma quadrifida ),

Karamu ( Coprosma lucida ), and

Ant Plant ( Myrmecodia beccari ).

(Photo: courtesy of the Macleay Museum, University of Sydney)

The Caterpillars pupate on the surface of the soil under a mat of felt that they spin amongst dead leaves. Before pupating they wander around in their jar for a day or so. The pupa takes about four days to form. It has an exquisite pattern of light and dark brown markings corresponding to the organs of the maturing moth inside. Our specimens have taken from seven to thirteen weeks for metamorphosis.

(Picture: courtesy of Michelle Greenfield, Lane Cove)

The moth itself is a handsome dark brown, with white edges to the wings and white bars across the wings and abdomen. It normally rests with these white bars aligned on each side to form a single stripe across the moth. This may give effective camouflage, misleading the eye to see the front and back as separate entities, neither of which is especially shaped like a moth.

(Specimen: courtesy of Michelle Zaunders)

The underside of the moth has tufts of bright red hair. Also the ends of the white bar show as transparent windows on the wings. The adult moth has a wingspan of about 6 cms.

(Specimen: courtesy of Michelle Zaunders)

The eggs are smooth, white and oval, and have a diameter about 0.5 mm. They are laid singly or in pairs on the edge of a leaf of the foodplant.

( Australia Post, 1991)

The species occurs over the eastern coastal region of Australia.