Mocis alterna (Walker, 1858)
Bean Looper
 (one synonym is Euclidia nebuligera Butler, 1886)
EREBINAE,   EREBIDAE,   NOCTUOIDEA
 
Don Herbison-Evans
(donherbisonevans@yahoo.com)
and
Stella Crossley


(Photo: courtesy of Craig Nieminski, sandstone country, Northern Territory)

This caterpillar has some of its prolegs missing, and moves in a looper fashion. It can have many colours varying from cream through brown to black, and might or might not have stripes. It is inclined to drop to the ground when disturbed. The caterpillar is a pest on :

  • Green Beans ( Phaseolus species, FABACEAE ),
  • Alfalfa ( Lucerne: Medicago sativa, FABACEAE ), and
  • Soybeans ( Glycine max, FABACEAE ).


    male
    (Photo: courtesy of Buck Richardson, Kuranda, Queensland)

    The adult moth is brown, mottled with sinuous markings. The wingspan is about 3 cms.


    female
    (Photo: courtesy of Paul Kay, Millstream, Western Australia)

    The males have a different and more contrasting pattern to the that of the females, and a narrower abdomen.


    male
    (Photo: courtesy of Paul Kay, Millstream, Western Australia)

    The eggs are laid singly. They are spherical with ribs, and green.


    underside
    (Photo: courtesy of Paul Kay, Millstream, Western Australia)

    The species is found in

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


    male, drawing by George Francis Hampson, listed as Mocis alterna    ,
    Catalogue of Lepidoptera Phalænæ in the British Museum,
    Noctuidæ, Volume XIII (1913), Plate CCXXIII, figure 24,
    image courtesy of Biodiversity Heritage Library, digitized by Ernst Mayr Library, Harvard University.

    Further reading :

    Ian F.B. Common,
    Moths of Australia,
    Melbourne University Press, 1990, fig. 47.6, pp. 65, 452.

    Peter Marriott,
    Moths of Victoria - Part 8,
    Night Moths and Allies - NOCTUOIDEA(B)    ,
    Entomological Society of Victoria, 2017, pp. 20-21.

    Buck Richardson,
    Tropical Queensland Wildlife from Dusk to Dawn Science and Art,
    LeapFrogOz, Kuranda, 2015, p. 144.

    Francis Walker,
    Noctuidae,
    List of the Specimens of Lepidopterous Insects in the Collection of the British Museum,
    Part 15 (1858), pp. 1833-1834, Ref. 1463.

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    (updated 13 April 2013, 17 September 2022)