Chlorocoma dichloraria (Guenée, 1857)
Double-fringed or Guenée's Emerald
(previously known as Chlorochroma dichloraria)
GEOMETRINAE,   GEOMETRIDAE,   GEOMETROIDEA
 
Don Herbison-Evans
(donherbisonevans@yahoo.com)
and
Stella Crossley

Chlorocoma dichloraria
early instar
(Photo: courtesy of David Akers, Won Wron, Victoria)

This caterpillar is a streaky green and brown, initially with a white-edged green dorsal line, and with an irregular pale line along each side just above the legs. Its head has a pair of blunt horns.

Chlorocoma dichloraria
middle instar
(Photo: courtesy of David Akers, Won Wron, Victoria)

The caterpillar is missing three pairs of prolegs, so it walks in a looper fashion. At rest, the caterpillar stands up straight at an angle looking like a twig.

Chlorocoma dichloraria
later instar
(Photo: courtesy of David Akers, Won Wron, Victoria)

The caterpillar feeds on various Wattles ( MIMOSACEAE ) including

  • Black Wattle ( Acacia mearnsii ).

    Chlorocoma dichloraria
    final instar
    (Photo: courtesy of David Akers, Won Wron, Victoria)

    The final instar is brown.

    Chlorocoma dichloraria
    camouflaged cocoon
    (Photo: courtesy of David Akers, Won Wron, Victoria)

    The caterpillar grows to a length of about 2 cms. The caterpillar forms a silk cocoon, and covers it with sand and debris.

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

    The pupa is brown, with dark lines on the developing wing areas, and dark spiracles along the abdomen.

    Chlorocoma dichloraria
    male
    (Photo: courtesy of Laura Levens, Upper Beaconsfield, Victoria)

    The adult is green, and has two faint white zig-zag lines across each wing. The marginal wing fringes are orange tipped with pink. The forewing costas are pale orange on top and pink underneath. The hindwing margins are rounded. There is a yellow dorsal line on the abdomen. The collar around the head is red. Because of the predominant green colour, this and related species of moths are called 'Emeralds'. The moth has a wingspan of about 3 cms.

    Chlorocoma dichloraria
    underside
    (Photo: courtesy of Laura Levens, Upper Beaconsfield, Victoria)

    The species is found in :

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

    Chlorocoma dichloraria
    close-up of head, male
    (Photo: courtesy of Laura Levens, Upper Beaconsfield, Victoria)


    Further reading :

    Ian F.B. Common,
    Moths of Australia,
    Melbourne University Press, 1990, pl. 11.24, p. 374.

    Pat and Mike Coupar,
    Flying Colours,
    New South Wales University Press, Sydney 1992, p. 41.

    Achille Guenée,
    Uranides et Phalénites,
    in Boisduval & Guenée:
    Histoire naturelle des insectes; spécies général des lépidoptères,
    Volume 9, Part 9 (1857), p. 365, No. 577, and also Plate 6, fig. 8.

    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), pp. 136-137.

    Peter Marriott,
    Moths of Victoria: Part 4,
    Emeralds and Allies - GEOMETROIDEA (B)
    ,
    Entomological Society of Victoria, 2012, pp. 34-35.


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    (updated 4 July 2013, 22 March 2023)