Condica dolorosa (Walker, 1865)
Dark Condica Moth
 (one synonym : Hadena taprobanae R.Felder & Rogenhofer, 1875)
ACRONICTINAE,   NOCTUIDAE,   NOCTUOIDEA
 
Don Herbison-Evans
(donherbisonevans@yahoo.com)
and
Stella Crossley

Condica dolorosa
(Photo: courtesy of Buck Richardson, Kuranda, Queensland)

The caterpillar of this species is smooth and green, with violet markings. It has been found feeding on plants in ASTERACEAE.

Condica dolorosa
(Photo: courtesy of Graeme Cocks, Townsville, Queensland)

The adult moth is dark brown with a complex pale spot near the centre of each forewing. Each hindwing is brown, fading towards the base. The moth has a wingspan of about 3 cms.

Condica dolorosa
underside
(Photo: courtesy of Graeme Cocks, Townsville, Queensland)

The species occurs across the south-west Pacific, including :

  • Borneo,
  • Hawaii,
  • Sri Lanka,
  • Taiwan,

    as well as in Australia in

  • Western Australia,
  • Northern Territory,
  • Queensland.

    Condica dolorosa
    drawing by Felder & Rogenhofer, listed as Hadena taprobanae    ,
    Reise der Osterreichischen Fregatte Novara,
    Band 2, Abtheilung 2 (5) (1875), Plate CX, fig. 3,
    image courtesy of Biodiversity Heritage Library, digitized by Smithsonian Libraries.

    Further reading :

    Peter Marriott & Marilyn Hewish,
    Moths of Victoria - Part 9,
    Cutworms and Allies - NOCTUOIDEA (C)    ,
    Entomological Society of Victoria, 2020, pp. 10-11.

    Buck Richardson,
    Tropical Queensland Wildlife from Dusk to Dawn Science and Art,
    LeapFrogOz, Kuranda, 2015, p. 120.

    Rudolf Felder & Alois F. Rogenhofer,
    Zoologischer Theil: Lepidoptera,
    Reise der Osterreichischen Fregatte Novara,
    Band 2, Abtheilung 2 (5) (1875), p. 11, and also Plate 110, fig. 3.

    Francis Walker,
    Catalogue of Lepidoptera Heterocera,
    List of the Specimens of Lepidopterous Insects in the Collection of the British Museum,
    Part 32, Supplement 2 (1865), p. 667.

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    (updated 1 July 2010, 26 October 2013, 12 December 2020)