Bastilla arctotaenia (Guenée, 1852)
 (also known as Bastilla arctotaenia)
EREBINAE,   EREBIDAE,   NOCTUOIDEA
 
Don Herbison-Evans
(donherbisonevans@yahoo.com)
and
Stella Crossley

Bastilla arctotaenia
Photo: courtesy of Buck Richardson, from
Tropical Queensland Wildlife from Dusk to Dawn Science and Art

These caterpillars have reduced prolegs and walk in a looper fashion. They have been found feeding on a wide variety of plants, in famlies such as

  • FAGACEAE,
  • EUPHORBIACEAE,
  • ROSACEAE, and
  • SALICACEAE.

    Bastilla arctotaenia
    (Photo: courtesy of Boris Branwhite, Wadalba, New South Wales)

    The adult moths of this species are dark brown, and on each forewing have a broad white line across the middle and a narrow white line across the tip.

    Bastilla arctotaenia
    (Photo: courtesy of CSIRO/BIO Photography Group, Centre for Biodiversity Genomics, University of Guelph, listed as Bastilla arctotaenia)

    The species occurs across south-east Asia, including

  • Nepal,
  • Philippines, and
  • Taiwan,
    and has been introduced into islands in the south Pacific, including
  • Cook Islands,

    but occurs endemically in Australia in

  • Northern Territory,
  • Queensland, and
  • New South Wales.

    This species needs to be placed in a different genus.

    Further reading :

    Achille Guenée,
    Noctuélites III,
    in Boisduval & Guenée:
    Histoire Naturelle des Insectes; Spécies Général des Lépidoptères,
    Volume 9, Part 7 (1852), pp. 272-273, No. 1711.

    Buck Richardson,
    Tropical Queensland Wildlife from Dusk to Dawn Science and Art,
    LeapFrogOz, Kuranda, 2015, p. 133.

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    (updated 22 December 2012, 19 August 2019, 6 April 2022)