The caterpillars pupate in the soil inside a silk cocoon.

male
(Photo: courtesy of Donald Hobern, Blackheath, New South Wales)

The male adult moths of this species have fully developed wings and can fly. Their wings are a uniform pale brown colour. The wingspan of the males is about 5 cms. The females cannot fly as they only have vestigial wings.

The species occurs in

The status of this species and the distinctions between this and other Pterolocera species are unclear. It may also be a complex of several species.

Further reading :

Ian F.B. Common,
Moths of Australia,
Melbourne University Press, 1990, fig. 40.6, p. 396.

Peter Marriott,
Moths of Victoria - Part 1,
Silk Moths and Allies - BOMBYCOIDEA,
Entomological Society of Victoria, 2008, pp. 22-23.

A. Jefferis Turner,
New Genera and Species of Lepidoptera belonging to the Family Noctuidae,
Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales,
Volume 46, No.2 (1921), p. 170, No. 7.

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(updated 26 April 2013, 3 October 2017)