Earias perhuegeli Holloway, 1977
 CHLOEPHORINAE,   NOLIDAE,   NOCTUOIDEA,  
  
Don Herbison-Evans
(donherbisonevans@yahoo.com)
and
Stella Crossley

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

The caterpillars of this species feed on the young shoots, flowers, and seed pods of their foodplant. They are a pest on :

  • Cotton ( Gossypium hirsutum, MALVACEAE ),

    and also have been found on :

  • Australian Native Cotton ( Gossypium australe, MALVACEAE ),
  • Creeping Cotton ( Gossypium populifolium, MALVACEAE ),
  • Yellow Hibiscus ( Hibiscus panduriformis, MALVACEAE ),
  • Venice Mallow ( Hibiscus trionum, MALVACEAE ),
  • Desert Rose ( Alyogyne hakeifolia, MALVACEAE ),
  • Desert Lantern Bush ( Abutilon otocarpum, MALVACEAE ),
  • Australian Native Rosella ( Abelmoschus ficulneus, MALVACEAE ), and also
  • Australian Boab ( Adansonia gregorii, BOMBACACEAE ).

    The adult moths are pale brown with arcs of dark spots across each forewing. The wingspan is about 2 cms. The species has been considered to be a variant of Earias huegeliana, despite the difference in forewing pattern and coloration.

    The species has been found over the southern Pacific, including:

  • Cook Islands,
  • Society Island,
  • Tahiti,

    and most of Australia, including

  • Norfolk Island,
  • Australian Capital Territory, and
  • South Australia.

    Some taxonomists think this is a synonym of Earias huegeliana.

    Further reading :

    Ian F.B. Common,
    Moths of Australia,
    Melbourne University Press, 1990, fig. 48.8, pp. 59, 65, 458.

    Jeremy Daniel Holloway,
    The Lepidoptera of Norfolk Island, their biogeography and ecology,
    The Hague : Dr W. Junk (1977), p. 78 and also Plate 22, fig. 8.

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    (updated 14 April 2013)