Anthela rubeola (R. Felder, 1874)
Ruby Anthelid
 (one synonym: Darala haemoptera Lower, 1893)
ANTHELINAE,   ANTHELIDAE,   BOMBYCOIDEA
 
Don Herbison-Evans,
(donherbisonevans@yahoo.com)
and
Stella Crossley

Anthela rubeola
(Photo : courtesy of Lorraine Jenkins, Port Lincoln, South Australia)

The Caterpillars of this species are dark brown with rows of yellow spots and tufts of white hair. The caterpillars have been found feeding on broad-leaved Wattles ( MIMOSACEAE ), such as :

  • Silver Wattle ( Acacia falcata ), and
  • Golden Wattle ( Acacia pycnantha ).

    Anthela rubeola
    (Photo : courtesy of Lorraine Jenkins, Port Lincoln, South Australia)

    The adult moths are dark reddish brown, with obscure submarginal bands in alternating shades, and two small white spots on each forewing.

    Anthela rubeola
    female
    (Photo: courtesy of CSIRO/BIO Photography Group, Centre for Biodiversity Genomics, University of Guelph)

    The males have a wingspan of about 4 cms. The females have a wingspan of about 6 cms.

    Anthela rubeola
    underside
    (Photo : courtesy of Lorraine Jenkins, Port Lincoln, South Australia)

    The species has only been found in

  • Victoria, and
  • South Australia.

    Anthela rubeola
    male, drawing by Rudolf Felder, listed as Darala rubeola    ,
    Reise der Osterreichischen Fregatte Novara,
    Band 2, Abtheilung 2 (1875), Plate XCVIII, fig. 9,
    image courtesy of Biodiversity Heritage Library, digitized by Smithsonian Libraries.

    Further reading:

    Rudolf Felder,
    Zoologischer Theil: Lepidoptera,
    Reise der Osterreichischen Fregatte Novara,
    Band 2, Abtheilung 2 (1875), p. 3, and also Plate 98, fig. 9.

    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), p. 96.

    Peter Marriott,
    Moths of Victoria - Part 1,
    Silk Moths and Allies - BOMBYCOIDEA    ,
    Entomological Society of Victoria, 2008, pp. 18-19.

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    (updated 24 April 2013, 11 May 2017, 24 July 2019, 26 August 2021)