Asota iodamia (Herrich-Schaffer, [1854])
(one synonym: Hypsa nesophora Meyrick, 1896)
AGANAIDAE

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

(updated 26 January 2003)

Asota iodamia
(Specimen: courtesy of the Macleay Museum, University of Sydney)

The Caterpillars of this species start life as a pile of white eggs laid under a leaf of a food plant.

Initially the Caterpillars are communal, and skeletonize the undersides of the leaf. Later they separate. They feed on the leaves of a tropical Figs, for example :

  • Morton Bay Fig ( Ficus macrophylla, MORACEAE ).

    The Caterpillars are brown with some white markings, and sparse white hairs.

    The adults have yellow wings, each with a pale spot near the centre, and a circle of six black dots near the base. The hind wings are a deeper yellow, and have two black spots joined by arcs of little black spots. The body is yellow with a black mark on the top of each abdominal segment. The moths have a wing span of about 5 cms.

    They are found from Sydney to Brisbane.


    Further reading :

    Ian F.B. Common,
    Moths of Australia, Melbourne University Press, 1990, p. 441.


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