Hypographa phlegetonaria Guenée, 1857 OENOCHROMINAE,   GEOMETRIDAE,   GEOMETROIDEA

Don Herbison-Evans (donherbisonevans@yahoo.com) and Stella Crossley

(Photo: courtesy of Steven Dodge, Nowra, New South Wales)

These caterpillars are purplish-brown, with a pale dorsal knob on the first abdominal segment. The caterpillars grow to a length of about 5 cms.

eclosed pupal skin
(Photo: courtesy of Steven Dodge, Nowra, New South Wales)

They pupate with no cocoon on the soil surface under dead leaves.

(Photo: courtesy of Steven Dodge, Nowra, New South Wales)

The adult moths of this species are grey-brown, with broad jagged dark lines on each wing. The wings have scalloped edges. The wingspan is about 4 cms.

male, drawing by Achille Guenée, Uranides et Phalénites,
in Boisduval & Guenée, Histoire Naturelle des Insectes; Spécies Général des Lépidoptères,
Volume 9, Part 9 (1857), Plate 19, fig. 3,
Image courtesy of Biodiversity Heritage Library, digitized by Smithsonian Libraries.

The species has been found in :

Tasmania.

underside
(Photo: courtesy of Steven Dodge, Nowra, New South Wales)

---

Further reading :

Achille Guenée,
Uranides et Phalénites,
in Boisduval & Guenée: Histoire Naturelle des Insectes; Spécies Général des Lépidoptères,
Volume 9, Part 9 (1857), p. 190, No. 293, and also Plate 19, figs. 2,3.

---

previous caterpillar

Australian butterflies

Australian Lepidoptera

Australian moths

next caterpillar

(updated 20 July 2011, 13 December 2025)