Crioa hades (Lower, 1903)
(previously known as Gadirthra hades)
Chestnut Crest
EREBINAE,   EREBIDAE,   NOCTUOIDEA
 
Don Herbison-Evans
(donherbisonevans@yahoo.com)
and
Stella Crossley


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

The caterpillar of this species is brown with a pale dorsal line. There is also a dull orangish line along each side.


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

The caterpillar is missing the first two pairs of prolegs. The head seems to have two black-edged white eyes.


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

There is a forked dorsal knob on the last segment with black tips.


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

The caterpillar has been found feeding on

  • Blackwood (Acacia melanoxylon, MIMOSACEAE).


    (Photo: courtesy of Donald Hobern, Aranda, Australian Capital Territory)

    The adult moth is brown with forewings that each have a pattern of dark lines, with a prominent black line from the base to the middle of the wing, and often has some white spots near the middle. In its resting pose, the moth erects a crest of hairs on its head.


    showing head crest
    (Photo: courtesy of Ian Bevege, Lilli Pilli, New South Wales)

    The hindwings are off-white with a broad dark border, and a shadowy comma mark near the middle. The moth has a wing span of about 3 cms.


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

    The species may be found in

  • Queensland,
  • New South Wales,
  • Australian Capital Territory,
  • Victoria, and
  • Tasmania.


    underside
    (Photo: courtesy of Ian Bevege, Lilli Pilli, New South Wales)


    Further reading

    Oswald B. Lower,
    Descriptions of New Australian Noctuina, etc.,
    Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia,
    Volume 27 (1903), p. 36.

    Peter Marriott,
    Moths of Victoria - Part 8,
    Night Moths and Allies - NOCTUOIDEA(B)
    ,
    Entomological Society of Victoria, 2017, pp. 16-17.


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    (updated 13 April 2013, 7 May 2023)