Praxis edwardsii Guenée, 1852 Edward's Praxis CALPINAE,   EREBIDAE,   NOCTUOIDEA

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

(Photo: courtesy of David Akers, Won Wron, Victoria)

The Caterpillars of this species are initially green with a prominent yellow dorsal stripe, and a brown-centred black-edged dull yellow stripe along each side. The body is sparsely dotted with small black-edged white spots. The head appears to have a brown triangular face between two grey eyes each covered in a black tracery, each having a prominent black-edged white spot.

(Photo: courtesy of David Akers, Won Wron, Victoria)

Later instars are brown, and the dorsal stripe develops wide black edges. The caterpillars are missing the foremost pair of prolegs.

(Photo: courtesy of David Akers, Won Wron, Victoria)

The caterpillars have been found feeding on:

Blackwood ( Acacia melanoxylon, MIMOSACEAE ).

pupa
(Photo: courtesy of David Akers, Won Wron, Victoria)

The pupa is brown and formed in a sheltered spot on the ground in slight cocoon.

(Photo: courtesy of Donald Hobern, Aranda, Australian Capital Territory)

The adult moths are a speckled dark brown. The wingspan is about 4 cms.

The species occurs in :

Western Australia.

(Photo: courtesy of the Photography Group, Centre for Biodiversity Genomics, University of Guelph)

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Further reading :

Ian F.B. Common,
Moths of Australia, Melbourne University Press, 1990, fig. 47.1, p. 452.

Achille Guenée,
Hypogrammidae,
in Boisduval & Guenée:
Histoire naturelle des insectes; spécies général des lépidoptères,
Volume 7 (1852), p. 29, No. 1356.

Peter Marriott,
Moths of Victoria - Part 8,
Night Moths and Allies - NOCTUOIDEA(B),
Entomological Society of Victoria, 2017, pp. 14-15.

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(updated 13 April 2013, 25 March 2023)