Pale-banded Noctuid (one synonym : Agrotis antipoda Felder & Rogenhofer, 1875) ACRONICTINAE, NOCTUIDAE, NOCTUOIDEA | (donherbisonevans@yahoo.com) and Stella Crossley |
(Photo: courtesy of the
Macleay Museum, University of Sydney)
Caterpillars of this species were found in September in Melbourne while weeding the garden which appeared to hide during the day, and feed at night on:
Specimens of this caterpillar were also collected in Sydney which appeared to be feeding on:
The body colour of the caterpillar is brown, with a light and dark brown tweed-like pattern along the back. The head capsule is black. The caterpillar grows to a length of about 3 cms.
The caterpillar pupates in the soil, and the adult usually emerges in spring.
The adult has forewings which are dark brown, except for a cream band along the costa, a cream dot near the middle, and a cream crescent which merges into a pale marginal band. The hindwings are pale brown, darkening at the wing-tips. The head has a pale collar. The wingspan is about 3 cms.
The species occurs over south-eastern Australia, including:
Further reading :
Rudolf Felder & Alois F. Rogenhofer,
Zoologischer Theil: Lepidoptera,
Reise der Osterreichischen Fregatte Novara,
Band 2, Abtheilung 2 (5) (1875), p. 2, and also
Plate 110, fig. 21
Peter B. McQuillan, Jan A. Forrest, David Keane, & Roger Grund,
Caterpillars, moths, and their plants of Southern Australia,
Butterfly Conservation South Australia Inc., Adelaide (2019), p. 164.
Peter Marriott & Marilyn Hewish,
Moths of Victoria - Part 9,
Cutworms and Allies - NOCTUOIDEA (C),
Entomological Society of Victoria, 2020, pp. 16-17.
Francis Walker,
Noctuidae,
List of the Specimens of Lepidopterous Insects in the Collection of the British Museum,
Part 10, 1857, p. 409, No. 8.
caterpillar | butterflies | Lepidoptera | moths | caterpillar |
(updated 12 April 2013, 6 January 2024)