Teleclita dryinopa

Teleclita dryinopa (Todd, 1902)
NOTODONTINAE , NOTODONTIDAE

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

(updated 28 July 2008)

(Photo: courtesy of Alice Ewing, taken near Broome)

These caterpillars are green with a pale line along each side, and have a brown head and legs, and a brown spike on the thorax. They are speckled all over with pale yellow dots.

(Photo: courtesy of Alice Ewing, taken near Broome)

They have a flat tail which they normally bend back over the body to show the underside which has markings like a leaf.

(Photo: courtesy of Alice Ewing, taken near Broome)

The caterpillars have been found feeding on:

Terminalia ( Terminalia species, COMBRETACEAE ) and

Helicopter Tree ( Gyrocarpus americanus, HERNANDIACEAE ).

Pupation occurs in a tough cocoon, typically on the trunk of its foodplant. The pupa has a spine on the head which is used to cut through the cocoon when the adult is to emerge.

(Photo: courtesy of Buck Richardson, Kuranda)

The adult moths of this species have forewings which are a patchy greyish-brown. Each hindwing is mainly white, with a small dark patch near the apex and near the tornus. In its resting pose: it sticks its forelegs, which are very hairy, out in front of the body.

The species is found in northern Queensland, the Northern Territory, and the north of Western Australia.