Cleora decisaria (Walker, 1866)
 (one synonym : Selidosema gilva Scott, 1893)
BOARMIINI,   ENNOMINAE,   GEOMETRIDAE,   GEOMETROIDEA
 
Don Herbison-Evans
(donherbisonevans@yahoo.com)
and
Stella Crossley

Cleora decisaria
early instar
drawing by Harriet Morgan and Helena Forde, listed as Geometra gilva,
Australian Lepidoptera and their transformations, Plate XXI: top right,
courtesy of the Australian Museum

This Caterpillar is a smooth green looper, having three pairs of prolegs missing. Early instars have white spiracles, and faint dark lines along the body. Later instars develop two blunt horns on the tail, a pair of black dorsal spots behind the thorax, and dorsal white spots on the last few abdominal segments.

Cleora decisaria
later instar
drawing by Harriet Morgan and Helena Forde, listed as Geometra gilva,
Australian Lepidoptera and their transformations, Plate XXI: top right,
courtesy of the Australian Museum

The caterpillar has been found feeding on

  • Australian Native Olive ( Olea paniculata, OLEACEAE ), and
  • Yellowwood ( Sarcomelicope simplicifolia, formerly Acronychia baueri, RUTACEAE ).

    Cleora decisaria
    pupa, drawing by Harriet Morgan and Helena Forde, listed as Geometra gilva    ,
    Australian Lepidoptera and their transformations, Plate XXI: top right,
    courtesy of the Australian Museum

    The caterpillars grow to a length of about 3 cms. The pupa is reddish-brown with a length of about 1.5 cms. The pupa is formed in a cocoon covered in earth just under the surface of the earth.

    Cleora decisaria
    (Photo: courtesy of Graeme Cocks, Townsville, Queensland)

    The adult moth of this species is greyish brown with wavy lines and variable ywllow areas. The moth has a wingspan of about 3 cms.

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

    The species has been found in south-east Asia, including:

  • Borneo,
  • New Guinea,
  • Solomons,

    as well as in Australia in

  • Western Australia,
  • Queensland,
  • New South Wales, and
  • Victoria.

    Cleora decisaria
    male, drawing by Harriet Morgan and Helena Forde, listed as Geometra gilva    ,
    Australian Lepidoptera and their transformations, Plate XXI: top right,
    courtesy of the Australian Museum

    Further reading :

    Alexander Walker Scott, edited and revised by Arthur Sidney Olliff and Helena Forde
    Australian Lepidoptera and their transformations, with illustrations drawn from the life by his daughters, Harriet Morgan and Helena Forde,
    Australian Museum,
    Vol. 2 (1893), p. 33 (61), and also Plate 21, top right.

    Francis Walker,
    Catalogue of Lepidoptera Heterocera,
    List of the Specimens of Lepidopterous Insects in the Collection of the British Museum,
    Part 35, Supplement 5 (1866), p. 1589.

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    (updated 11 January 2010, 5 July 2018, 15 May 2021)