Don Herbison-Evans (
donherbisonevans@yahoo.com )
&
Stella Crossley
(updated 24 July 2008)
(Photo: courtesy of the
Macleay Museum, University of Sydney)
This Caterpillar is brown, except for a black and white patch at each end and in the middle. It is also very hairy, and the hairs can cause Urticaria on sensitive people. The Caterpillar sits passively during the day on a fence or stone. It feeds nocturnally on :
It is prone to attack by a variety of parasites and parasitoids. It grows to length of about 3 cms., and then pupates in a sheltered crevice in a cocoon.
The moth is brown with a yellow spot in the middle of the thorax, a yellow line along the leading edge of the forewings, and yellow hindwings with a black margin. It also has a yellow abdomen, and has two blurred yellow marks near the centre of each forewing. These distinguish it from the similar moth: Palaeosia bicosta. Both have a wingspan of about 3 cms.
Specimens of this species have been taken in
Further reading :
Ian F.B. Common,
Moths of Australia,
Melbourne University Press, 1990, p. 437.
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