Arcte coerula (Guenée, 1852)
Ramie Moth
 (formerly known as Cycytodes coerula)
CALPINAE,   EREBIDAE,   NOCTUOIDEA
 
Don Herbison-Evans
(donherbisonevans@yahoo.com)
and
Stella Crossley

Arcte coerula
(Photo: courtesy of Maaki Ikeda)

This spectacular Caterpillar is yellow with a black band along each side containing a row of red spots, and with narrow black lines across the back The head and legs are black. It has sparse stiff long white hairs.

Arcte coerula
(Photo: courtesy of Michael Reid, Lake Eacham, Queensland)

It has been found feeding on :

  • Japanese False Nettle ( Boehmeria nipononivea, URTICACEAE ), and
  • Nettle Tree ( Boehmeria australis, URTICACEAE ).

    When threatened, they are inclined to swing the front part of the body from side to side. The caterpillars darken with age, and grow to a length up to 10 cms.

    Arcte coerula
    (Photo: courtesy of Hongxi, Jiujiang, China)

    The adult moths have dark brown patterned forewings, each with a black-edged pale area around the wingtip. The hindwings are brown with pale blue curved bands.

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

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

  • China,
  • Fiji,
  • India,
  • Japan, and
  • Taiwan,

    as well as in Australia in

  • Queensland, and
  • Norfolk Island.

    Arcte coerula
    male, drawing by Achille Guenée, listed as Cycytodes coerula    ,
    in Boisduval & Guenée: Ommatophoridae, Histoire naturelle des insectes,
    Volume 7, Part iii (1852), Plate 13, fig. 10,
    image courtesy of Biodiversity Heritage Library, digitized by Smithsonian Libraries.

    Further reading :

    Achille Guenée,
    Ommatophoridae,
    in Boisduval & Guenée,
    Histoire naturelle des insectes,
    Volume 7, Part iii (1852), pp. 41-42, No. 1370, and also Plate 13, fig. 10.

    George Francis Hampson,
    The Macrolepidoptera Heterocera of Ceylon,
    Illustrations of typical specimens of Lepidoptera Heterocera in the British Museum,
    Part 9 (1893), p.104, No. 529, and also Plate 176, fig. 5.

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    (updated 23 August 2013, 10 April 2015, 17 August 2019, 18 June 2022)