Chasmina pulchra (Walker, 1858)
White Beauty
 (previously known as Acontia pulchra)
ACRONICTINAE,   NOCTUIDAE,   NOCTUOIDEA
 
Don Herbison-Evans
(donherbisonevans@yahoo.com)
and
Stella Crossley


(Photo: courtesy of Bruce Anstee, Riverstone, New South Wales)

The Caterpillars of this species have been found feeding on :

  • Kurrajong ( Brachychiton populneus, STERCULIACEAE ).


    Photo: courtesy of Buck Richardson, from
    Tropical Queensland Wildlife from Dusk to Dawn Science and Art

    The adult moth is a satin-white with brown markings on the costa of each forewing.


    (Specimen: courtesy of the Macleay Collection, Chau Chak Wing Museum, University of Sydney)

    The species has been found over much of Australia, including

  • Western Australia,
  • Northern Territory,
  • Queensland,
  • New South Wales,
  • Australian Capital Territory,
  • Victoria,
  • Tasmania, and
  • South Australia.


    underside
    (Photo: courtesy of Dianne Clarke, Mapleton, Queensland)

    The classification of this species into AMPHIPYRINAE or ACRONICTINAE controversial.

    Further reading :

    Ian F.B. Common,
    Moths of Australia,
    Melbourne University Press, 1990, fig. 49.7, p. 462.

    Peter Marriott & Marilyn Hewish,
    Moths of Victoria - Part 9,
    Cutworms and Allies - NOCTUOIDEA (C)    ,
    Entomological Society of Victoria, 2020, pp. 8-9.

    Buck Richardson,
    Tropical Queensland Wildlife from Dusk to Dawn Science and Art,
    LeapFrogOz, Kuranda, 2015, p. 120.

    Francis Walker,
    Catalogue of Lepidoptera Heterocera,
    List of the Specimens of Lepidopterous Insects in the Collection of the British Museum,
    Part 12 (1858), p. 797, No. 39.

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    (updated 1 July 2010, 27 November 2025)