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

(Photo: courtesy of Maria Rosenfelder, Sunshine Coast Hinterland, Queensland)

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, Ipswich, Queensland)

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.

The adult moth is superficially similar to Nyctemera amicus, but can be distinguished by the shape and number of white spots 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 Nyctemera amicus has wings with yellow fringes and a black background colour, while Nyctemera secundiana has colourless fringes and the ground colour of the wings is dark brown.

The moth is frequently seen flying during the day.

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

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

side view
(Photo: courtesy of Harold McQueen, Goodna, Queensland)

The species occurs in the south-west pacific area,, including

and also commonly in Australia, including

underside
(Photo: courtesy of Graeme Cocks, Townsville, Queensland)

The adult moth is also superficially similar to Nyctemera baulus, but following Lucas, it can be distinguished by the smaller white disc on the hindwings.

Further reading :

Peter Hendry,
A Night at Ray's,
Metamorphosis Australia,
Issue 57 (June 2010), pp. 30-32,
Butterflies and Other Invertebrates Club.

Thomas P. Lucas,
On Queensland and other Australian Macro-Lepidoptera, with Localities and Descriptions of new Species,
Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales,
Series 2, Volume 6, Part 2 (1891), pp. 280-281.

Buck Richardson,
Mothology,
LeapFrogOz, Kuranda, 2008, p. 13.

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

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(updated 10 February 2013, 15 March 2015, 31 March 2019, 15 July 2020)