Casbia melanops Rosenstock, 1885
(one synonym : Deilinia eccentritis Meyrick, 1892)
Pomaderris Moth
CABERINI,   ENNOMINAE,   GEOMETRIDAE,   GEOMETROIDEA
 
Don Herbison-Evans
(donherbisonevans@yahoo.com)
and
Mike & Pat Coupar
and
Cathy Byrne & Stella Crossley

Casbia melanops
early instar, magnified
(Photo: copyright Cathy Byrne)

The Caterpillars of this species are initially pale brown with black dots and a yellow head.

Casbia melanops
later instar
(Photo from: "Flying Colours", Coupar & Coupar, 1992)

Later, they become mottled with green and brown, with black dots. They feed on the foliage of :

  • Hazel Pomaderris ( Pomaderris aspera, RHAMNACEAE ).

    Casbia melanops
    final instar
    (Photo: copyright Cathy Byrne)

    They are loopers with only two pairs of prolegs. The Caterpillars grow to a length of about 2 cms.


    pupa
    (Photo: copyright Cathy Byrne)

    Pupation occurs in a loosely woven silk cocoon between leaves of the foodplant.

    Casbia melanops
    female
    (Photo: copyright Cathy Byrne)

    The adult moth varies from pale to rusty brown with blurred dark patches, and sometimes subterminal orange arcs or arcs of black dots. There is a dark spot near the middle of each wing of the female. The male also can have these spots, but each having a pale ring, or being totally off-white. At rest the wings are held flat. The moths have a wingspan of about 3 cms. The males have well-developed feathered antennae. The females have thread-like antennae.

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

    The eggs are off-white and ellipsoidal. They are covered in fine ridges.

    Casbia melanops
    eggs, magnified
    (Photo: copyright Cathy Byrne)

    The species may be found in

  • Queensland,
  • New South Wales,
  • Australian Capital Territory,
  • Victoria,
  • , and
  • South Australia.


    Further reading :

    Pat and Mike Coupar,
    Flying Colours, New South Wales University Press, Sydney 1992.

    Marilyn Hewish,
    Moths of Victoria: Part 7,
    Bark Moths and Allies - GEOMETROIDEA (D)
    ,
    Entomological Society of Victoria, 2016, pp. 6-7, 12-13.

    Rudolph Rosenstock,
    Notes on Australian Lepidoptera, with descriptions of new species,
    Annals and Magazine of Natural History,
    Volume 5, Part 16 (1885), pp. 431-432, No. 617, and also Plate 11, fig. 10.


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    (updated 16 February 2010, 1 January 2017, 23 February 2020, 16 March 2021)