This caterpillar probably feeds on Lichens and Algae on dead wood.

(Photo: courtesy of Sandi Butler, Maleny, Queensland)

The cocoon made by the caterpillar is quite remarkable. It is an open square mesh cage, constructed out of larval hairs held together with silk. The hairs are too short to construct the cage directly, so the caterpillar attaches pairs of hairs to each other end to end, and uses these pairs to make the sides of the cage. The pupa is suspended in the middle of the cage, equidistant from the sides. The caterpillar even manages to push its final larval skin outside the mesh cage while forming its pupa. When the moth emerges, it appears to exit the cage without damaging it.

(Photo: courtesy of Jaap Vogel, Tamborine, Queensland)

The adult moth of this species has brown forewings with black edges. The hindwings are black, with a yellow spot in the middle of each one. The moth has a wingspan of about 3 cms.

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

The species is found in rain-forest in

New South Wales.

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Further reading :

Ian F.B. Common,
Moths of Australia, Melbourne University Press, 1990, pl. 18.19, p. 437.

Geoff Monteith,
The mystery of the arctiid moth, Cyana meyricki Rothschild – An Insect Houdini.
Entomological Society of Queensland, Volume 36 (2008), Number 9, pp.237-243.

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(updated 25 June 2011)