Idalima metasticta (Hampson, 1910) AGARISTINAE,   NOCTUIDAE,   NOCTUOIDEA

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

(Photo: courtesy of CSIRO/BIO Photography Group, Centre for Biodiversity Genomics, University of Guelph)

The forewings of the adult moths are black, each with a variety of white spots. The hindwings are black, each with a large white distorted letter 'S' in the middle. The abdomen has alternating bands of black and white. All four wings look as though they have had curved bites taken out of the margins. The wingspan is about 2.5 cms.

The species occurs in Australia in

Northern Territory.

male, drawing by George Francis Hampson,,
Catalogue of Lepidoptera Phalænæ in the British Museum,
Noctuidæ, Volume IX (1910), Plate CXLVI, figure 27,
image courtesy of Biodiversity Heritage Library, digitized by Ernst Mayr Library, Harvard University.

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Further reading :

George Francis Hampson,
Catalogue of Noctuidae in the British Museum,
Catalogue of Lepidoptera Phalaenae in the British Museum,
Volume 9 (1910), p. 461, No. 4943, and also Plate 146, fig. 27.

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(written 7 June 2019)