male
(Photo courtesy of Paul Kay, Whittlesea, Victoria)

The adult moth has variable red, yellow or brown wings with variable dark spots and lines. Usually the forewings each have three notable dark marks along the costa. The hindwings each have a dark area at the tornus next to a bubbly white mark, with each bubble outlined in black. The moths often rests with the abdomen twisted to one side.

male, drawing by Rudolf Felder & Alois F. Rogenhofer, listed as Arhodia lutosaria,
Reise der Osterreichischen Fregatte Novara,
Band 2, Abtheilung 2 (5) (1875), Plate CXXIV, fig. 15,
Image courtesy of Biodiversity Heritage Library, digitized by Smithsonian Libraries.

The males have feathery antennae, and have a wingspan of about 4 cms. The margin of each forewing of the male is recurved to give a slightly pointed wingtip.

female
(Photo courtesy of Paul Kay, Whittlesea, Victoria)

The females have thread-like antennae, and have a wingspan of about 5 cms. The margin of each forewing of the female is recurved to give a very pointed wingtip.

female, drawing by Rudolf Felder & Alois F. Rogenhofer, listed as Arhodia lutosaria,
Reise der Osterreichischen Fregatte Novara,
Band 2, Abtheilung 2 (5) (1875), Plate CXXIV, fig. 16,
Image courtesy of Biodiversity Heritage Library, digitized by Smithsonian Libraries.

The species has been found in:

underside, female
(Photo courtesy of Paul Kay, Whittlesea, Victoria)

Further reading :

Ian F.B. Common,
Moths of Australia,
Melbourne University Press, 1990, figs. 53.14, 53.15, pl.10.7, p. 369.

Rudolf Felder & Alois F. Rogenhofer,
Zoologischer Theil: Lepidoptera,
Reise der Osterreichischen Fregatte Novara,
Band 2, Abtheilung 2 (5) (1875), p. 3, and also Plate 124, figs. 15, 16.

Peter Marriott,
Moths of Victoria: Part 4,
Emeralds and Allies - GEOMETROIDEA (B),
Entomological Society of Victoria, 2013, pp. 12-13.

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(updated 18 June 2013, 29 September 2017, 7 March 2020, 20 January 2021)