| Gumtree Bizarre Looper or Inscribed Emerald (formerly known as Comibaena metaspila) GEOMETRINAE, GEOMETRIDAE, GEOMETROIDEA | (donherbisonevans@yahoo.com) and Cathy Byrne & Stella Crossley |
(Photo by Greg Chappelle, courtesy of Alwin Koo, Cairns, Queensland)
This Caterpillar varies from pale brown to reddish brown. The caterpillar has pairs of flanges, each of which have a double tip, along each side of its body, and pair of fleshy spikes on its tail. It moves in a looper fashion as it only has legs at the front and the rear. The caterpillar grows to a length of about 2.5 cms.
The caterpillar has been found feeding on the foliage of
It pupates in a sparse cocoon in joined dried leaves. The pupa is brown with two dark lines along the body, and arcs of dark dots along the veins of the developing wings.
The adult moths are green with narrow brown borders, and faint white zig-zag lines across the wings. The undersides are white. The wingspan is about 3 cms.
The species has been found in
Further reading :
Ian F.B. Common,
Moths of Australia,
Melbourne University Press, 1990, pl. 27.4, p. 373.
Peter Hendry,
At the light trap,
Butterflies and Other Invertebrates Club,
Newsletter, Issue 45 (June 2007), pp. 18-22.
Peter Marriott,
Moths of Victoria: Part 4,
Emeralds and Allies - GEOMETROIDEA (B),
Entomological Society of Victoria, 2012, pp. 32-33.
Francis Walker,
Geometrites,
List of the Specimens of Lepidopterous Insects in the Collection of the British Museum,
Part 22 (1861), p. 580, No. 24.
 caterpillar |  butterflies |  Lepidoptera |  moths |  caterpillar |
(updated 17 June 2010, 28 October 2018, 23 April 2021)