Anthela oressarcha

Anthela oressarcha Turner, 1921
Alpine Anthelid
ANTHELINAE, ANTHELIDAE, BOMBYCOIDEA

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

Anthela oressarcha
Male
(Specimen: courtesy of the Macleay Museum, University of Sydney)

These are alpine caterpillars, being found only in the Kosciusko National Park in Australia. For food, they accepted:

Female
(Specimen: courtesy of the Macleay Museum, University of Sydney)

The adult moths are fawn with patterns of dark markings. The male is the smaller, having a wingspan of about 6 cms. The female has a span of about 7 cms.

The adults of Anthela oressarcha are superficially similar to those of Anthela basigera, Anthela denticulata, and Anthela euryphrica, but the four species occur in four different areas of the country:

Anthela basigera occurs mainly in South Australia,

Anthela denticulata occurs mainly in southern Victoria,

Anthela euryphrica occurs mainly in central New South Wales, and

Anthela oressarcha occurs the mountain areas of southern New South Wales.

Further reading :

Ian F.B. Common, Moths of Australia,
Melbourne University Press, 1990, pl. 13.6, p. 395.

Peter Marriott,
Moths of Victoria - Part 1,
Silk Moths and Allies - BOMBYCOIDEA,
Entomological Society of Victoria, 2008, pp. 20-21.

A. Jefferis Turner,
Revision of Australian Lepidoptera — Hypsidae, Anthelidae,
Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales,
Volume 46 (1921), pp. 177-178, No. 25.

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(updated 24 February 2009, 14 July 2023)