Cyana meyricki (Rothschild & Jordan, 1901)
 (one synonym : Chionaema meyricci Hampson, 1914)
LITHOSIINI,   ARCTIINAE,   EREBIDAE,   NOCTUOIDEA
  
Don Herbison-Evans,
(donherbisonevans@yahoo.com)
and
Stella Crossley

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

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

Cyana meyricki
(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.

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

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

Cyana meyricki
(Photo: courtesy of the Photography Group, Centre for Biodiversity Genomics, University of Guelph)

The species is found in rain-forest in

  • Queensland, and
  • New South Wales.

    Cyana meyricki
    (Photo: courtesy of CSIRO/BIO Photography Group, Centre for Biodiversity Genomics, University of Guelph)

    Further reading :

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

    Peter Hendry,
    Report on an afternoon identifying the Arctiinae,
    Butterflies and Other Invertebrates Club,
    Metamorphosis Australia,
    Issue 66 (September 2012), p. 35.

    Geoff Monteith,
    The mystery of the arctiid moth, Cyana meyricki Rothschild – An Insect Houdini,
    Entomological Society of Queensland,

    Geoff Monteith,
    The Mystery Photograph from Last Issue,
    Butterflies and Other Invertebrates Club,
    Metamorphosis Australia,
    Issue 53 (June 2009), pp. 33-35.

    Lionel Walter Rothschild & Karl Jordan,
    On some new or rare Oriental Lithosiinae.,
    Novitates Zoologicae,
    Volume 8, Part 4 (1901), p. 410, No. 5.

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    (updated 1 May 2013, 10 July 2024)