![]() | Mistletoe Day Moth (one synonym : Agarista casuarinae Scott, 1864) AGARISTINAE, NOCTUIDAE, NOCTUOIDEA | (donherbisonevans@yahoo.com) and Stella Crossley |
(Photo: Don Herbison-Evans,
Yulara, Northern Territory)
The body of this Caterpillar is black with white spots, and it has brown legs, head, and tail.
When disturbed, the caterpillar rears up, lifting its head and thorax. The caterpillar feeds on:
The adult moths have wings that are black with white straight and zigzag lines. The abdomen is black on top and has orange stripes underneath, and a scarlet tuft on the tail.
The adult is a day-flying moth, with a wingspan of up to 5 cm.
The species is found on mainland Australia, including:
Further reading :
George French Angas,
South Australia illustrated,
Thomas McLean, London, Part 7 (1847), Plate 37.
Arthur Bartholomew,
Agarista casuarinae,
Prodromus of the Zoology of Victoria,
1861, Museum of Victoria.
Ian F.B. Common,
Moths of Australia,
Melbourne University Press, 1990, pp. 447, 464.
Pat and Mike Coupar,
Flying Colours,
New South Wales University Press, Sydney 1992, p. 68.
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), pp. 13, 20, 174.
Peter Marriott,
Moths of Victoria - Part 8,
Night Moths and Allies - NOCTUOIDEA(B),
Entomological Society of Victoria, 2017, pp. 34-35.
![]() caterpillar | ![]() butterflies | ![]() Lepidoptera | ![]() moths | ![]() caterpillar |
(updated 9 December 2009, 20 January 2025)