Eublemma rivula (Moore, 1882)
 (previously known as Thalpochares rivula)
BOLETOBIINAE,   EREBIDAE,   NOCTUOIDEA
 
Don Herbison-Evans
(donherbisonevans@yahoo.com)
and
Stella Crossley

Eublemma rivula
(Photo: courtesy of Buck Richardson, Kuranda, Queensland)

The caterpillars of this species have some prolegs reduced, and move in a looping fashion. The caterpillars are a pest on:

  • Safflower ( Carthamus tinctorius, ASTERACEAE ).

    Eublemma rivula
    (Photo: copyright of Uwe Path, Alice Springs, Northern Territory)

    The adult moths are pale brown with some dark dots, darker brown bands, and sometimes two white lines on each forewing. The hindwings are a uniform pale brown, darkening toward the wingtips. The wingspan is about 1.5 cms.

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

    The species is found across south-east Africa and Asia, including:

  • Botswana,
  • Gambia,
  • India,
  • South Africa,
  • Thailand,
  • Tonga,

    as well as Australia in:

  • Western Australia,
  • Northern Territory,
  • Queensland,
  • New South Wales,
  • Victoria, and
  • South Australia.

    Eublemma rivula
    Cocos Islands 1982

    Further reading :

    Frederic Moore,
    in W.C. Hewitson & F. Moore :
    Descriptions of new Indian Lepidopterous Insects from the collection of the late W.S. Atkinson. Part ii. Heterocera, continued (Cymatophoridae-Herminiidae),
    Asiatic Society of Bengal,
    1882, p. 140.

    Buck Richardson,
    Tropical Queensland Wildlife from Dusk to Dawn Science and Art,
    LeapFrogOz, Kuranda, 2015, p. 116.

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    (updated 16 July 2010, 5 January 2026)