Later instars acquire a striped pattern.

(Photo: courtesy of Steve Williams, Moths of Victoria - Part 8)

The final instar is a patchy brown or dark grey, sometimes with some orange spots and lines. It has a dorsal nodule on the tail, and faint zigzag lines along each side, and a head that seems to have a white nose.

cocoon
(Photo: courtesy of Steve Williams, Moths of Victoria - Part 8)

The caterpillar pupates in a cocoon spun in the ground debris.

pupa
(Photo: courtesy of Steve Williams, Moths of Victoria - Part 8)

The pupa is brown, and covered in a white greasy powder.

female
(Photo: courtesy of Peter Marriott, Moths of Victoria - Part 8)

The adult moths are various shades of brown, with variable dark areas and a thin pale submarginal undulating line, not reaching the costa or hind-margin, on each forewing.

male
(Photo: courtesy of Marilyn Hewish, Moths of Victoria - Part 8)

The moths have a wide crest behind the head with a black front.

female, showing crest
(Photo: courtesy of Peter Marriott, Moths of Victoria - Part 8)

The hindwings are plain pale brown. The wingspan is about 3 cms.

(Photo: courtesy of the Photography Group, Centre for Biodiversity Genomics, University of Guelph)

The eggs are grey and spherical, with minute grooves and dimples. They are laid in an untidy array on any convenient surface.

eggs
(Photo: courtesy of Steve Williams, Moths of Victoria - Part 8)

The moths are found all over Australia, including:

underside
(Photo: courtesy of John Bromilow, Ainslie, Australian Capital Territory)

While most Pantydia can be separated by examining the underside of the hindwing, Pantydia diemeni can be recognized by the break in the forewing submarginal line.

Further reading :

Ian F.B. Common,
Moths of Australia,
Melbourne University Press, 1990, fig. 44.20, p. 450.

Achille Guenée,
Noctuélites,
in Boisduval & Guenée:
Histoire naturelle des insectes; spécies général des lépidoptères,
Volume 9, Part 6 (1852), pp. 437-438, No. 1309.

Peter Marriott,
Moths of Victoria - Part 8,
Night Moths and Allies - NOCTUOIDEA(B),
Entomological Society of Victoria, 2017, pp. 22-23.

previous caterpillar

Australian butterflies

Australian Lepidoptera

Australian moths

next caterpillar

(updated 14 May 2013, 15 February 2023)