Acronicta psorallina (Lower, 1903) (previously: Acronycta psorallina) ACRONICTINAE,   NOCTUIDAE,   NOCTUOIDEA

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

early instar
early instar
(Photo: courtesy of Dick Whitford, Kuranda, Queensland)

The early instars of Caterpillars of this species are pale green with a yellow line along each side. The caterpillars have long sparse forward-curving black hairs, and a pale brown head.

middle instar
(Photo: courtesy of Dick Whitford, Kuranda, Queensland)

Later instars develop yellow spots between the hairs.

last instar
(Photo: courtesy of Dick Whitford, Kuranda, Queensland)

The last instar becomes brown with white spots at the bases of the hairs. The caterpillars grow to a length of about 3.5 cms.

opened cocoon and pupa
(Photo: courtesy of Dick Whitford, Kuranda, Queensland)

The caterpillar pupates in the ground litter in a cocoon covered in debris. The pupa is brown with a length of about 1.6 cms.

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

The adult moth has green and/or grey forewings with dark markings, including a prominent dark patch midway along the costa. There is also a small red mark near the base.

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

The hindwings are pale brown, fading to white at the base. The wingspan is about 3 cms.

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

The species occurs in

Queensland.

male, drawing by George Francis Hampson, listed as Thalatha psorallina
Catalogue of Lepidoptera Phalænæ in the British Museum,
Noctuidæ, Volume VII (1908), Plate CXXIII, figure 31,
image courtesy of Biodiversity Heritage Library, digitized by Ernst Mayr Library, Harvard University.

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Further reading :

Oswald B. Lower,
Descriptions of New Australian Noctuina, etc,
Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia,
Volume 27 (1903), p. 31.

Buck Richardson,
Tropical Queensland Wildlife from Dusk to Dawn Science and Art,
LeapFrogOz, Kuranda, 2015, p. 119.

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(updated 11 August 2012, 17 September 2021, 7 April 2022)