female
(Photo: copyright Cathy Byrne)

The adult moth is pale brown with a pale submarginal stripe, and sometimes a dark spot near the middle of each forewing. The forewings have hooktips and a marginal cusp. The wingspan is about 3 cms.

male
(Photo: courtesy of Marilyn Hewish, Moths of Victoria: Part 7)

The eggs are spherical and white, developing red markings as hatching approaches.

eggs, magnified
(Photo: copyright Cathy Byrne)

The species is found the southern half of Australia in

The moth is related to Azelina biplaga but is smaller, with smaller circles on the forewings, and the males have larger fringes than those of Metrocampa biplaga. The genera Azelina, Gynopteryx and Metrocampa are thought to be inappropriate for these species, but a suitable genus has yet to be found.

Further reading :

Arthur G. Butler,
On a Small Collection of Lepidoptera from Melbourne,
The Annals and Magazine of Natural History; Zoology, Botany, and Geology,
Fifth Series, Volume 9, No. 50 (1882), p. 91, No. 23.

Ian F.B. Common,
Moths of Australia, Melbourne University Press, 1990, p. 366.

Marilyn Hewish,
Moths of Victoria: Part 7,
Bark Moths and Allies - GEOMETROIDEA (D),
Entomological Society of Victoria, 2016, pp. 10-11.

Peter B. McQuillan, Jan A. Forrest, David Keane, & Roger Grund,
Caterpillars, moths, and their plants of Southern Australia,
Butterfly Conservation South Australia Inc., Adelaide (2019), p. 125.
(listed as Metrocampa ada)

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(updated 18 June 2005, 9 August 2018, 11 September 2021)