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

male, underside
(Photo: courtesy of Joan Fearn, Moruya, New South Wales)

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,
Revision of Australian Lepidoptera — Hypsidae, Anthelidae.,
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, 14 April 2019)