Coenotoca subaspersa (Walker, 1864)
Rainforest Vine Day-moth
(formerly known as Melanchroia subaspersa)
AGARISTINAE,   NOCTUIDAE,   NOCTUOIDEA
 
Don Herbison-Evans
(donherbisonevans@yahoo.com)
and
Stella Crossley

Coenotoca subaspersa
(Photo: courtesy of Ian Common, from Moths of Australia)

This Caterpillar is brown with dark white-edged bands containing pale yellow dots between the segments. The bands behind the prothorax and abdominal segments one and eight are particularly dark. The caterpillar has some sparse long white hairs. The caterpillar is reported to feed on:

  • Five-Leaved Water Vine ( Cissus hypoglauca ),
  • Slender Grape ( Cayratia clematidea ),
  • Boston Ivy ( Parthenocissus tricuspidata ), and
  • Grape Vine ( Vitis vinifera ),

    all of VITACEAE.

    Coenotoca subaspersa
    (Photo: courtesy of Ian McMillan, Imbil, Queensland)

    The adult moth is black with a diagonal white bar across each of the forewings. The hindwings are black, sometimes with black and white chequered margins, and sometimes with a central white spot. The wingspan is about 3 cms.

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

    The abdomen is black with yellow inter-segmental bands. The legs have alternating black and white bands.

    The species occurs in

  • Queensland,
  • New South Wales, and
  • Victoria.


    Further reading :

    Ian F.B. Common,
    Moths of Australia, Melbourne University Press, 1990, fig. 49.14, pl. 32.8, p. 464.

    Peter Marriott,
    Moths of Victoria - Part 8,
    Night Moths and Allies - NOCTUOIDEA(B)
    ,
    Entomological Society of Victoria, 2017, pp. 34-35.

    Francis Walker,
    Catalogue of Lepidoptera Heterocera,
    List of the Specimens of Lepidopterous Insects in the Collection of the British Museum,
    Part 31 (1864), p. 210.


    previous
    back
    caterpillar
    Australian
    Australian Butterflies
    butterflies
    Australian
    home
    Lepidoptera
    Australian
    Australian Moths
    moths
    next
    next
    caterpillar

    (updated 3 June 2003, 11 October 2013, 27 December 2014, 12 December 2017, 29 January 2020, 26 August 2021)