Omphaliodes obscura (Walker, 1855)
Secretive Anthelid
(one synonym: Aprosita ulothrix Turner, 1914)
ANTHELINAE,   ANTHELIDAE,   BOMBYCOIDEA
 
Don Herbison-Evans,
(donherbisonevans@yahoo.com)
and
Stella Crossley

Omphaliodes obscura
(Photo: courtesy of Lorraine Jenkins, Port Lincoln Junior Primary School, South Australia)

This Caterpillar is hairy, and varies from off-white to dark grey, with orange or red patches on the back of all the abdominal segments, and coloured marks on the thorax. The caterpillar has been found feeding on :

  • Coast Golden Wattle ( Acacia leiophylla, MIMOSACEAE ).

    Omphaliodes obscura
    (Photo: courtesy of Lorraine Jenkins, Port Lincoln Junior Primary School, South Australia)

    The caterpillar pupates in a papery cocoon in the leaves of a foodplant.

    Omphaliodes obscura
    live males
    (Photo: courtesy of Lorraine Jenkins, Port Lincoln Junior Primary School, South Australia)

    The male adult moths of this species are basically colored grey. The forewings each have two dark transverse zig-zag lines, sometimes edged with yellow, and which sometimes touch in the middle.

    Omphaliodes obscura
    pinned male
    (Photo: courtesy of CSIRO/BIO Photography Group, Centre for Biodiversity Genomics, University of Guelph)

    The hindwings each have one dark transverse zigzag line. The wingspan of the male is about 2.5 cms.

    Omphaliodes obscura
    male underside
    (Photo: courtesy of CSIRO/BIO Photography Group, Centre for Biodiversity Genomics, University of Guelph)

    The species is found over much of Australia, including

  • Western Australia,
  • Northern Territory,
  • Queensland,
  • New South Wales,
  • Victoria, and
  • South Australia.

    The adult moths have vestigial degenerate mouth-parts, like all BOMBYCOIDEA, so cannot feed.

    Omphaliodes obscura
    close-up, underside of head, male
    (Photo: courtesy of Mark Heath, Victoria Rock, Western Australia)


    Further reading :

    Ian F.B. Common,
    Moths of Australia,
    Melbourne University Press, 1990, fig. 40.4, p. 396.

    Peter B. McQuillan, Jan A. Forrest, David Keane, & Roger Grund,
    Caterpillars, moths, and their plants of Southern Australia,
    Butterfly Conservation South Australia Inc., Adelaide (2019), pp. 4-5, 94.

    Peter Marriott,
    Moths of Victoria - Part 1,
    Silk Moths and Allies - BOMBYCOIDEA
    ,
    Entomological Society of Victoria, 2008, pp. 16-17, 22-23.

    Francis Walker,
    Catalogue of Lepidoptera Heterocera,
    List of the Specimens of Lepidopterous Insects in the Collection of the British Museum,
    Part 6 (1855), p. 1481, No. 3.


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    (updated 26 April 2013, updated 21 November 2016, 24 July 2019, 7 September 2020, 15 May 2022)