The caterpillar grows to a length of about 5 cms. It pupates in a cocoon in ground debris between joined dead leaves.

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

The adult moth of this species has wings that are brown, with some diagonal dark lines across each forewing, including one from the wingtip to the middle of the hind margin of each forewing.

(Photo: courtesy of Nick Lambert, Coffs Harbour, New South Wales)

The hindwings darken at the margins. The forewings each have a recurved margin at the wingtip, and a sinuous recurve on the hind margin. The wingspan is about 4.5 cms.

(Photo: courtesy of Ian McMillan, Imbil, Queensland)

The moths pierce fruit to suck the juice, and this species along with other moths in the genus Calyptra are known as the Vampire moths because they have been observed to pierce the skin of animals such as buffalo, zebu and tapir to suck blood. Under experimental conditions, one even pierced human skin and sucked blood.

(Photo: courtesy of Jeff Keys, Sportsmans Creek, New South Wales)

The species has been found across south-east Asia, including

as well as in Australia in

underside
(Photo: courtesy of Jeff Keys, Sportsmans Creek, New South Wales)

Further reading :

Achille Guenée,
Noctuélites,
in Boisduval & Guenée:
Histoire naturelle des insectes; spécies général des lépidoptères,
Volume 9, Part 6 (1852), pp. 374-375, No. 1230.

Lois Hughes & John Moss,
Fruit-piercing Moths - Night Raiders,
Butterflies and Other Invertebrates Club,
Metamorphosis Australia,
Issue 67 (December 2012), pp. 1, 4-9.

Buck Richardson,
Tropical Queensland Wildlife from Dusk to Dawn Science and Art,
LeapFrogOz, Kuranda, 2015, p. 129.

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(written 30 May 2013, 21 July 2023)