Ischyja ebusa Swinhoe, 1902 (one synonym : Ischyja euryleuca Prout, 1932) CALPINAE,   EREBIDAE,   NOCTUOIDEA

Don Herbison-Evans (donherbisonevans@yahoo.com) and Stella Crossley

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

These Caterpillars are brown, with a pale knobbly back.

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

At rest, they coil in a knot around a twig. We have seen this unusual posture in only one other species, (curiously: in a totally different family) namely Stibaroma melanotoxa.

pupal covering
(Photo: courtesy of Buck Richardson, Kuranda, Queensland)

The pupa is brown, and formed in a nest of leaves joined by silk.

pupa uncovered
(Photo: courtesy of Buck Richardson, Kuranda, Queensland)

The adult moth of this species has dark brown forewings. The males have pale patches on the forewings. The hindwings are white with a broad dark brown margin. The moths have a slight purplish suffusion.

male
Photo: courtesy of Buck Richardson, from
Tropical Queensland Wildlife from Dusk to Dawn Science and Art

The underside is black, with a white bar across each forewing, and a large white basal patch on each hindwing. The wingspan is about 10 cms.

female
(Photo: courtesy of Buck Richardson, Kuranda, Queensland)

The species occurs in

New South Wales.

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

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Further reading :

Buck Richardson,
Mothology,
LeapFrogOz, Kuranda, 2008, p. 5.

Buck Richardson,
Tropical Queensland Wildlife from Dusk to Dawn Science and Art,
LeapFrogOz, Kuranda, 2015, p. 143.

Charles Swinhoe,
New eastern Heterocera,
The Annals and Magazine of Natural History,
Series 7, Volume 10 (1902), p. 498.

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(updated 27 January 2011, 12 April 2020, 7 April 2022)