(Photo: by David Carter, Natural History Museum, London,
courtesy of the Denys Long)
Don Herbison-Evans (
donherbisonevans@yahoo.com )
&
Stella Crossley
(updated 6 May 2005)
These Caterpillars are dark grey and hairy, with pale spots, and a red neck. They feed nocturnally on various plants from the family MYRTACEAE, including:
Early instars are gregarious, and are precessionary. Later instars are solitary.
The female adult moths have grey-brown forewings, each with a large dark patch containing a golden spot near the centre. The hindwings are dark brown. The male adult moths have white forewings, each with a dark patch containing a gold spot, and also each having a dark diagonal line. They both have a very hairy head and thorax. The abdomen of both sexes has a dorsal gold spot on each segment. The forewings of both sexes have black and gold chequered edges and a submarginal arc of white spots. The moths have a wingspan of about 3 cms.
The eggs are laid under an irregular fluffy mass of fawn hairs.
The species has been found over most of Australia, including Tasmania.
Further reading :
Ian F.B. Common, Moths of Australia, Melbourne University Press, 1990, p. 425.
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