Gastrina cristaria Guenée, 1857 Wave-lined Geometrid (one synonym : Passa latifasciata Walker, 1866) DIPTYCHINI,   ENNOMINAE,   GEOMETRIDAE,   GEOMETROIDEA

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

early instar
(Photo: Elaine McDonald, Nicholls Rivulet, Tasmania)

The Caterpillar is green and smooth, with a yellowish head, and a dark line running from over the head to the tail. It is a true looper, with only one pair of ventral prolegs.

later instar
(Photo: Elaine McDonald, Nicholls Rivulet, Tasmania)

Later instars have a green head, and develop pale lines along the body, and narrow pale rings between segments, but still have the dark line over the head and along the back.

even later instar
(Photo: Elaine McDonald, Nicholls Rivulet, Tasmania)

Even later instars develop pale yellow lines along the back, but still have the dark line over the head.

final instar
(Photo: Elaine McDonald, Nicholls Rivulet, Tasmania)

The final instar grows to a length of about 2.5 cms. It pupates under the soil.

(Photo courtesy of Michael Bedingfield, Conder, Australian Capital Territory)

The adult moth has fawn wings with wavy patterns on them. In normal resting position: the wings are laid out flat, and the forewings cover the hindwings.

male
(Photo: courtesy of Ian Baird, O'Connor, Australian Capital Territory)

The males and female moths are similar except that the males have feathery antennae, and the females have thread-like antennae.

female
(Photo: courtesy of Ian Baird, O'Connor, Australian Capital Territory)

The wingspan is about 4 cms.

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

The species is found over the south-eastern quarter of Australia, including:

South Australia.

(Photo: Don Herbison-Evans, Manly, New South Wales)

The eggs are white and oval. They are laid in clusters or strings of half a dozen or so, on leaves of a food plant.

male, drawing by Achille Guenée, Uranides et Phalénites,
Histoire naturelle des insectes; spécies général des lépidoptères,
Volume 9, Part 9 (1857), Plate 5, fig. 4,
image courtesy of Biodiversity Heritage Library, digitized by Smithsonian Libraries.

male underside
(Photo: courtesy of John Bromilow, Ainslie, Australian Capital Territory)

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Further reading :

Ian F.B. Common,
Moths of Australia,
Melbourne University Press, 1990, fig. 34.15, p. 365.

Achille Guenée,
Uranides et Phalénites,
in Boisduval & Guenée:
Histoire naturelle des insectes; spécies général des lépidoptères,
Volume 9, Part 9 (1857), p. 224, No. 335, and also Plate 5, fig. 4.

Marilyn Hewish,
Moths of Victoria: Part 5 - Satin Moths and Allies - GEOMETROIDEA (A),
Entomological Society of Victoria, 2014, pp. 6-7, 16-17.

Catherine J. Young,
Characterisation of the Australian Nacophorini and a Phylogeny for the Geometridae from Molecular and Morphological Data,
Ph.D. thesis, University of Tasmania, 2003.

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(updated 20 July 2010, 16 September 2013, 16 January 2016, 9 October 2018, 20 October 2020, 11 October 2021)