Pericyma cruegeri

Pericyma cruegeri (Butler, 1886)
Poinciana Looper
(previously known as Homoptera cruegeri)
EREBINAE, EREBIDAE, NOCTUOIDEA

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

Pericyma cruegeri
early instar
(Photo: Don Herbison-Evans, Bundaberg, Queensland)

The Caterpillars have a narrow thorax and wider abdomen and head. They move like loopers, as they only have 2 pairs of prolegs. They are initially green with white lines. The head is green with two white lines. When disturbed, the caterpillar bends its head right back, and thrashes from side to side.

(Photo: courtesy of Matthew Connors, Townsville, Queensland)

Later instars become grey with black spots and a black line down the back. They grow to length of about 7 cm.

western form
(Photo: courtesy of Geoff Byrne, Carnarvon, Western Australia)

The caterpillars feed communally at first but separate when older, feeding on various trees of the plant family CAESALPINIACEAE, including :

Yellow Poinciana ( Peltophorum pterocarpum ), and

Poinciana ( Delonix regia ).

cocoon

Pupation occurs in a cocoon covered in debris on the ground some distance from the foodplant. The cocoon has a length of about 2 cms.

pupa
(Photo: courtesy of Geoff Byrne, Carnarvon, Western Australia)

Inside the cocoon, the pupa is covered in a waxy white powder.

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

The adult moth is brown with a complex pattern of dark lines and patches, and often with some white areas.

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

The moth is very variable in its coloration. The legs are dark brown with white joints. The wingspan is about 4 cms.

(Specimen: courtesy of the Macleay Museum, University of Sydney)

The species occurs in south-east Asia including :

and also in Australia in

New South Wales, and

Further reading :

Arthur G. Butler,
Heterocera from the Australian region,
Transactions of the Entomological Society of London,
1886, pp. 411-412.

Ian F.B. Common,
Moths of Australia,
Melbourne University Press, 1990, fig. 47.3, p. 452.

Buck Richardson,
LeapFrogOz, Kuranda, 2008, p. 26.

Buck Richardson,
Tropical Queensland Wildlife from Dusk to Dawn Science and Art,
LeapFrogOz, Kuranda, 2015, p. 148.

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(updated 5 September 2010, 24 October 2018, 17 April 2019, 6 October 2020, 31 August 2021)