Patched Leaf Moth (mispelled as Monoctenia fraternaria) OENOCHROMINAE, GEOMETRIDAE, GEOMETROIDEA | (donherbisonevans@yahoo.com) and Cathy Byrne & Stella Crossley |
This caterpillar is brown with an orange spiracle on each side of each segment surrounded by a reddish patch. The head is also reddish and speckled. It is a looper, having only two pairs of prolegs. The caterpillar feeds on:
The pupa is dark brown.
The adult moth is also pinkish brown, with a few variable light and dark ragged patches and lines on each wing. The thorax is very hairy.
The females have thread-like antennae, and have a wingspan of about 8 cms.
The males have feathery antennae, and have a wingspan of about 6 cms.
The eggs are white, smooth, and oval.
The species occurs in
Further reading :
Achille Guenée,
in Boisduval & Guenée: Uranides et Phalénites,
Histoire naturelle des insectes; spécies général des lépidoptères,
Volume 9, Part 9 (1857), p. 184, No. 286, and also
Plate 7, fig 3.
Peter B. McQuillan,
An overview of the Tasmanian geometrid moth fauna
(Lepidoptera: Geometridae) and its conservation status,
Journal of Insect Conservation,
Volume 8, Issues 2 & 3, June 2004, pp. 209-220.
Peter Marriott,
Moths of Victoria: Part 4,
Emeralds and Allies - GEOMETROIDEA (B),
Entomological Society of Victoria, 2013, pp. 8-9.
caterpillar | butterflies | Lepidoptera | moths | caterpillar |
(updated 16 June 2013, 27 April 2015, 22 January 2016, 3 May 2019, 10 October 2020)