Thallogama destinataria (Guenée, 1857)
Dappled Bark Moth
(one synonym is Boarmia attenta Walker, 1860)
BOARMIINI,   ENNOMINAE,   GEOMETRIDAE,   GEOMETROIDEA
 
Don Herbison-Evans
(donherbisonevans@yahoo.com)
and
Stella Crossley

Thallogama destinataria
drawing by Harriet Morgan and Helena Forde, listed as Geometra lentiginosa
,
Australian Lepidoptera and their transformations, Plate XXI: lower left,
courtesy of the Australian Museum

These Caterpillars are smooth brown loopers, with three pairs of prolegs missing. The caterpillars have pale areas between segments, and a group of white spots on the back. The caterpillars commonly stand straight but on a diagonal, on a twig, looking like another twig, but the often the caterpillars make mistakes and sit on the edge of a leaf like that, looking very conspicuous.

The caterpillars have been found feeding on

  • Stephania hernandifolia ( MENISPERMACEAE )

    Thallogama destinataria
    pupa
    drawing by Harriet Morgan and Helena Forde, listed as Geometra lentiginosa
    ,
    Australian Lepidoptera and their transformations, Plate XXI: bottom left: figure 1,
    courtesy of the Australian Museum

    The caterpillar grows to a length of about 3 cms. The pupa is brown, and formed in a coarse cocoon covered in soil particles on the soil surface. The pupa has a length of about 1 cm.

    Thallogama destinataria
    (Photo: courtesy of Frank Pierce, Bend of Islands, Victoria)

    The adult moths of this species are brown, with dark and pale patches, and wiggly dark lines on the wings. The wingspan is about 3 cms.

    Thallogama destinataria
    underside
    (Photo: courtesy of Frank Pierce<, Bend of Islands, Victoria)

    The species has been found in:

  • Queensland,
  • New South Wales,
  • Victoria, and
  • Tasmania.

    Thallogama destinataria
    male, drawing by Harriet Morgan and Helena Forde, listed as Geometra lentiginosa
    ,
    Australian Lepidoptera and their transformations, Plate XXI: bottom left,
    courtesy of the Australian Museum


    Further reading :

    Achille Guenée,
    Uranides et Phalénites,
    in Boisduval & Guenée:
    Histoire Naturelle des Insectes; Spécies Général des Lépidoptères,
    Volume 9, Part 9 (1857), p. 297, No. 471.

    Marilyn Hewish,
    Moths of Victoria: Part 7,
    Bark Moths and Allies - GEOMETROIDEA (D)
    ,
    Entomological Society of Victoria, 2016, pp. 22-23.

    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,
    Volume 2 (1893), pp. 35-36 (63-64), and also Plate 21, bottom left.


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    (written 1 February 2017, updated 21 January 2019, 12 October 2020)