Comibaena inductaria (Guenée, 1898)
 (previously known as Probolosceles inductaria)
(also known as Argyrocosma inductaria)
GEOMETRINAE,   GEOMETRIDAE,   GEOMETROIDEA
 
Don Herbison-Evans
(donherbisonevans@yahoo.com)
and
Stella Crossley


(Photo: courtesy of Daniel Kurek, Cairns, Queensland)

The Caterpillar of this species is brownish-green with spiny warts and tubercles on its back, to which it attaches detritus. The caterpillar has been found feeding on the flowers of

  • Satinwood ( Buchanania species, ( ANACARDIACEAE ).

    The caterpillar pupates in a thin cocoon incorporating debris amongst the flowers.

    The adult moth has green forewings, each with a white line along the costa, and number of brown-edged white spots on all four wings. The wingspan is about 1 cm.


    underside
    (Photo: courtesy of Axel Hausmann, SNSB, Zoologische Staatssammlung Muenchen)

    This species occurs across south-east Asia, and has been found in :

  • Borneo,
  • India,
  • Sri Lanka,

    and in Australia in

  • Queensland.


    male, drawing by George Francis Hampson, listed as Eucrostis smaragdus,
    The Lepidoptera Heterocera of the Nilgiri district,
    Part 8 (1891), Plate CLI, fig. 15,
    image courtesy of Biodiversity Heritage Library, digitized by Gerstein Library, University of Toronto.

    Further reading :

    Achille Guenée,
    Uranides et Phalénites,
    in Boisduval & Guenée: Histoire Naturelle des Insectes; Spécies Général des Lépidoptères,
    Volume 9, Part 9 (1857), p. 370, No. 588.

    George Francis Hampson,
    The Lepidoptera Heterocera of the Nilgiri district,
    Illustrations of typical specimens of Lepidoptera Heterocera in the collection of the British Museum,
    Part 8 (1891), p. 110, and also Plate 151, fig. 15.

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    (updated 22 January 2010, 4 July 2021)