Asota orbona (Vollenhoven, 1863)
(one synonym: Hypsa significans Walker, 1864)
AGANAINAE,   EREBIDAE,   NOCTUOIDEA
 
Don Herbison-Evans
(donherbisonevans@yahoo.com)
and
Stella Crossley

Asota orbona
(Photo: courtesy of Buck Richardson, Kuranda, Queensland)

The Caterpillars of this species are thought to feed on the foliage of various species of:

  • Figs ( Ficus species, MORACEAE ).

    Asota orbona
    showing variability
    (Photo: courtesy of Paul Kay, Queensland)

    The adult moths are yellow with variable brown shading along the veins. There are two pale spots on each forewing, and a number of black dots on the thorax and the bases of the forewings. The hindwings sometimes have a dark brown border. The moths have a wingspan of about 5 cms.

    Asota orbona
    underside
    (Photo: courtesy of Paul Kay, Queensland)

    This species is found across south-east Asia, including

  • New Guinea,

    and Australia in

  • Queensland, and
  • northern New South Wales.

    Asota orbona
    drawing by Samuel Constantinus Snellen van Vollenhoven, listed as Hypsa orbona,

    Description de quelques nouvelles espéces de Lépidoptéres des Indes Orientales,
    Tijdschrift voor Entomologie, Volume 6 (1863), plate 9, fig. 4,
    image courtesy of Biodiversity Heritage Library, digitized by Smithsonian Libraries.


    Further reading :

    Ian F.B. Common,
    Moths of Australia,
    Melbourne University Press, 1990, pl. 19.23, p. 442.

    Buck Richardson,
    Mothology,
    LeapFrogOz, Kuranda, 2008, p. 12.

    Samuel Constantinus Snellen van Vollenhoven,
    Description de quelques nouvelles espéces de Lépidoptéres des Indes Orientales,
    Tijdschrift voor Entomologie,
    Volume 6 (1863), pp. 137-139, No. 8, and also plate 9, fig. 4.

    Paul Zborowski and Ted Edwards,
    A Guide to Australian Moths,
    CSIRO Publishing, 2007, p. 184.


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    (updated 29 April 2013, 9 March 2015, 29 August 2021)