Nyctemera secundiana

Nyctemera secundiana T.P. Lucas, 1891
(erroneously: Nyctemera secundaria)
ARCTIINAE , ARCTIIDAE , NOCTUOIDEA

Don Herbison-Evans ( donherbisonevans@yahoo.com )
and
Rob de Vos & Stella Crossley

Nyctemera secundiana larva

This Caterpillar has alternate orange and dark blue bands along the body, and is covered sparsely with long thin dark hairs. On each side of the head there is a cluster of longer dark hairs, which together look rather like a pair of horns. It feeds on garden plants and weeds, like:

Fireweed ( Crassocephalum crepidioides ), and

Climbing Groundsel ( Senecio scandens,

in ASTERACEAE.

If disturbed, the caterpillar will drop to the ground and walk quickly away.

(photo: courtesy of Nick Monaghan, Noosa)

The Caterpillar grows to a length of about 3 cms. It pupates in a thin walled cocoon under a leaf of its foodplant. The pupa is handsome too, having alternate light and dark brown segments.

(Photo: courtesy of Evan Harris)

After two to three weeks, the moth emerges. The adult moth has a wingspan of about 4 cms. It is dark brown except for a broad irregular white band across each forewing, and a large white patch near the front margin of each hind wing. The body has alternate black and yellow bands.

They adult moth is superficially similar to Nyctemera amicus, but can be distinguished by the shape of the fascia on the forewings, the colour of the white pattern, the shape of the white disc on the hindwings, and the black pattern on the abdomen. Furthermore N. amicus has wings with yellow fringes and a black background colour, while N. secundiana has colourless fringes and the ground colour of the wings is dark brown.

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

The eggs are laid in an open cluster, but separate from each other.

The moth is frequently seen flying during the day. The species occurs commonly in north-east Australia, including

South Australia,

Queensland, and

New South Wales,
as well as overseas in

Fiji,

Irian Jaya (mostly in the Central Mountain area and at some places near the coast of Wandammen),

Papua, and

very rarely on Mindanao (southern Philippines).

The range is the same as that of Nyctemera baulus, and it is possible that these two are not different species, but subspecies, or even just ecological variants of the same species. This cannot be decided until they have been more studied.