Unplaced tetramera

Xenomusa tetramera Lower, 1894
Arched Casbia
CABERINI, ENNOMINAE, GEOMETRIDAE, GEOMETROIDEA

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

(Photo: courtesy of David Akers, Wonn Wron, Victoria)

This caterpillar is brown with black dots and variable markings including thin wavy lines and dark squarish spots. Early instars also have some orange between the segments.

head close-up
(Photo: courtesy of David Akers, Wonn Wron, Victoria)

It has an orange-brown head with dark markings. The caterpillar has lost three pairs of prolegs, so walks in a looper fashion.

(Photo: courtesy of Cathy Byrne, Moths of Victoria: Part 7)

It has been found feeding on plants in RHAMNACEAE including

Dogwood (Pomaderris apetala), and

Dogwood (Pomaderris aspera).

pupa
(Photo: courtesy of David Akers, Wonn Wron, Victoria)

The pupa is reddish-brown, formed in a sparse cocoon.

female
(Photo: courtesy of Peter Marriott, Moths of Victoria: Part 7)

The adult moth has grey-brown wings, each with three variable blurred, sometimes blotchy, dark transverse arcs, the outer one often accompanied by a straightish transverse pale yellow line diverging to be wider near the costa.

male
(Photo: courtesy of Cathy Byrne, Moths of Victoria: Part 7)

At rest the wings are held flat. The moths have a wingspan of about 4 cms. The males have well-developed feathered antennae. The females have thread-like antennae.

(Photo: courtesy of Cathy Byrne, Moths of Victoria: Part 7)

The eggs are oval with a fine embossed pattern of serrated ridges. Initially they are yellow, but they develop red markings as hatching approaches.

The species has been found in

Australian Capital Territory,

Victoria, and

Tasmania.

underside
(Photo: courtesy of David Akers, Wonn Wron, Victoria)

This species is unplaced, and its genus is under review. This species has been synonomised with Casbia crataea by some taxonomists, but here, following Nielsen et al., we list them each separately.