Nearcha nullata (Guenée, 1857)
Rounded Nearcha
(one synonym : Panagra subcelata Walker, 1861)
OENOCHROMINAE,   GEOMETRIDAE,   GEOMETROIDEA
 
Don Herbison-Evans
(donherbisonevans@yahoo.com)
and
Cathy Byrne & Stella Crossley

Nearcha nullata
(Photo: copyright Cathy Byrne)

These Caterpillars have been found feeding on :

  • Small Parrot-pea. ( Dillwynia parvifolia, FABACEAE ).

    Nearcha nullata
    (Photo: courtesy of CSIRO/BIO Photography Group, Centre for Biodiversity Genomics, University of Guelph)

    The adult moths are pale brown with a pattern of dark speckles and spots, an indistinct pale-edged, possibly dotted, submarginal band on each wing, and a row of dark dots along the edge of each wing. The moths have a wingspan of about 3 cms. They typically rest on the ground with their wings flat, and the forewings covering the hindwings. The underside of each forewing has a black spot near the middle. The males have a pale hair tuft along the underside of each hindwing costa. The females have thread-like antennae. The males have bipectinate antennae.

    Nearcha nullata
    (Photo: copyright Cathy Byrne)

    The eggs are initially white, darkening as hatching approaches. They are oval with minute serrated ridges.

    The species has been found in the south-eastern quarter of Australia, including

  • Queensland,
  • New South Wales,
  • Australian Capital Territory,
  • Victoria,
  • Tasmania, and
  • South Australia.

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


    Further reading :

    Ian F.B. Common,
    Moths of Australia,
    Melbourne University Press, 1990, fig. 37.2, p. 370.

    Achille Guenée,
    in Boisduval & Guenée: Uranides et Phalénites,
    Histoire naturelle des insectes; spécies général des lépidoptères,
    Volume 10 (1857), p. 130, No. 1130.

    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, 2012, pp. 18-19.


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    (updated 30 March 2013, 9 April 2015, 6 September 2020)