Chlorocoma externa (Walker, 1861)
Spotted-fringe Emerald
(previously known as Chlorochroma externa)
GEOMETRINAE,   GEOMETRIDAE,   GEOMETROIDEA
 
Don Herbison-Evans
(donherbisonevans@yahoo.com)
and
Cathy Byrne & Stella Crossley


(Photo: copyright Cathy Byrne)

This Caterpillar is thin and pale green, with the head end extended into two horn-like points with red tips. The caterpillar has been found feeding on

  • Cherry Ballart ( Exocarpos cupressiformis, SANTALACEAE ).


    male
    (Photo: courtesy of Peter Marriott, Moths of Victoria: Part 4)

    The adult moths are green Emeralds, and the wings having a red border. The moths also have a dark spot in the middle of each wing, and a plain green abdomen, which distinguish it from the similar Chlorocoma cadmaria. The wings are rounded, unlike those of the Emerald Chlorocoma tetraspila. The wingspan is about 2 cms.


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

    The eggs are round, flattened, and yellow, and covered in minute dimples. They are laid singly.


    close-up of eggs
    (Photo: copyright Cathy Byrne)

    The species has been found in:

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


    underside
    (Photo: courtesy of Peter Marriott, Moths of Victoria: Part 4)


    Further reading :

    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.

    Francis Walker,
    Geometrites,
    List of the Specimens of Lepidopterous Insects in the Collection of the British Museum,
    Part 22 (1861), p. 564, No. 11.


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    (updated 3 November 2011, 17 December 2019, 15 November 2020)