(Photo: courtesy of the Macleay Museum, University of Sydney)

It grows to a length of about 3 cm., then leaves the foodplant, and looks for a dry spot in the soil surface debris, where it forms its cocoon and pupates

(Photo: courtesy of the Macleay Museum, University of Sydney)

The moth has white wings with brown flecks. The markings on the wings is interesting, because the pattern and degree of marking differs even between animals reared from the same brood of eggs.

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

The thorax is white (unlike that of Spilosoma glatygni, which has a black thorax under white hairs). The legs and the upper surface of the abdomen are bright red. Underneath the abdomen is buff and brown.

(Photo: courtesy of the Macleay Museum, University of Sydney)

The eggs are white and laid in a patch on a leaf.

The species is found over much of Australia, including:

Further reading :

Ian F.B. Common,
Moths of Australia, Melbourne University Press, 1990, fig. 44.1, p. 435.

L.C. Haines,
Tiger Moths of the County of Cumberland, New South Wales, Proceedings of the Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales, April 1969, pp. 59-61, pls. VIII-IX.

Paul Zborowski and Ted Edwards,
A Guide to Australian Moths, CSIRO Publishing, 2007, p. 183.

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(updated 17 September 2011)