Praxis pandesma (Lower, 1902)
 (formerly known as Corrha pandesma)
Variable Praxis
EREBINAE,   EREBIDAE,   NOCTUOIDEA
 
Don Herbison-Evans,
(donherbisonevans@yahoo.com)
and
Stella Crossley

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

The Caterpillars of this species initially are stripy and green, with a dark head, and are missing two pairs of prolegs, so walk in a looper fashion.

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

Later instars are brown with an orangey dorsal stripe, with other stripes darkening into black spots or dashes over the thorax and the last two segments. The head has a pair of black-edged pale spots. The caterpillars have been found feeding on

  • Golden Wattle ( Acacia pycnantha, MIMOSACEAE ).

    Praxis pandesma

    Praxis pandesma
    (Photos: courtesy of Steve Williams, Moths of Victoria - Part 8)

    The caterpillars pupate in a cocoon covered spun between leaves or in ground debris. The pupa is brown.

    Praxis pandesma
    (Photo: courtesy of Cathy Powers, Brisbane Ranges, Victoria)

    The adult moths are a speckled brown with variable broad dark edged bands across each wing. The wing margins are slightly scalloped. The wingspan is about 4 cms.

    Praxis pandesma
    (Photo: courtesy of Cathy Powers, Brisbane Ranges, Victoria)

    The eggs are grey flattened spheres with minute ridges. They are laid in a loose cluster an any available surface.

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

    The species has been found in :

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

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

    Further reading :

    Oswald B. Lower,
    Descriptions of new Australian Lepidoptera,
    Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales,
    Volume 26 (1902), p. 656.

    Peter B. McQuillan, Jan A. Forrest, David Keane, & Roger Grund,
    Caterpillars, moths, and their plants of Southern Australia,
    Butterfly Conservation South Australia Inc., Adelaide (2019), p. 158.

    Peter Marriott,
    Moths of Victoria - Part 8,
    Night Moths and Allies - NOCTUOIDEA(B)    ,
    Entomological Society of Victoria, 2017, pp. 1, 10-11, 14-15.

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    (written 6 January 2017, updated 5 May 2023)