Psilosticha mactaria (Guenée, 1857) (one synonym : Boarmia atycta Turner, 1926) Large Waved Bark Moth BOARMIINI,   ENNOMINAE,   GEOMETRIDAE,   GEOMETROIDEA

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

(Photo: copyright Cathy Byrne)

These Caterpillars are blotchy green or brown, with two pale vertical lines on the head. The caterpillar is a true looper, with only two pairs of prolegs.

(Photo courtesy of Michael Bedingfield, Conder, Australian Capital Territory)

The adult moths have grey-brown wings with a complex wavy pattern. The wings have scalloped edges. The moths normally rest with wings flat and all four wings exposed. Both sexes have thread-like antennae. The wingspan is about 4 cms.

(Photo: copyright Cathy Byrne)

The eggs are ellipsoidal and are covered in an embossed microscopic hexagonal mesh pattern. Initially they are white, becoming dark as hatching approaches.

eggs, magnified
(Photo: copyright Cathy Byrne)

The species occurs in south-east Australia, including:

Tasmania.

showing underside
(Photo courtesy of Michael Bedingfield, Conder, Australian Capital Territory)

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Further reading :

Achille Guenée,
Uranides et Phalénites,
in Boisduval & Guenée:
Histoire naturelle des insectes; spécies général des lépidoptères,
Volume 9, Part 9 (1857), p. 270, No. 422.

Marilyn Hewish,
Moths of Victoria: Part 7,
Bark Moths and Allies - GEOMETROIDEA (D),
Entomological Society of Victoria, 2016, pp. 2, 24-25.

Peter B. McQuillan,
Report on a survey of nocturnal moth species occurring on South Sister near St Marys, Tasmania.,
University of Tasmania, 2005.

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(updated 17 September 2011, 24 September 2013, 22 December 2017, 29 August 2020)