Cyneoterpna wilsoni (R. Felder & Rogenhofer, 1875)
Wilson's Grey
 (previously known as Hypochroma wilsoni)
GEOMETRINAE,   GEOMETRIDAE,   GEOMETROIDEA
 
Don Herbison-Evans
(donherbisonevans@yahoo.com)
and
Stella Crossley

Cyneoterpna wilsoni
(Drawing: E. Anderson, ca. 1900, Melbourne Museum archives, Moths of Victoria: Part 4)

These Caterpillars are green with a triangular cross-section, and triangular head. The caterpillars have three pale yellow lines: one along each side, and one along the ventral edge.

Cyneoterpna wilsoni
(Drawing: E. Anderson, ca. 1900, Melbourne Museum archives, Moths of Victoria: Part 4)

The caterpillars only have six true legs, a pair of prolegs, and a pair of claspers, so they walk in a looper fashion. They commonly rest standing on a twig on their prolegs and claspers.

Cyneoterpna wilsoni
(Drawing: E. Anderson, ca. 1900, Melbourne Museum archives, Moths of Victoria: Part 4)

The caterpillars feed on the leaves of various species of

  • Gum Trees ( Eucalyptus, MYRTACEAE ).

    Cyneoterpna wilsoni
    (Photo: courtesy of Alan Melville, Tasmania)

    The upper surfaces of the wings of the adult moth of this species are pale grey with dark veins. The undersides have dark margins, a broad black submarginal band, and a black comma mark near the middle of each wing. The edges of the wings are deeply scalloped.

    Cyneoterpna wilsoni
    underside
    (Photo: courtesy of Donald Hobern, Aranda, Australian Capital Territory)

    This species occurs in

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

    Cyneoterpna wilsoni
    male, drawing by Felder & Rogenhofer, listed as Hypochroma wilsoni,
    Reise der Osterreichischen Fregatte Novara,
    Band 2, Abtheilung 2 (5) (1875), Plate CXXV, fig. 4,
    image courtesy of Biodiversity Heritage Library, digitized by Smithsonian Libraries.

    Further Reading:

    Ian F.B. Common,
    Moths of Australia,
    Melbourne University Press, 1990, fig. 37.11, p. 372.

    Rudolf Felder & Alois F. Rogenhofer,
    Zoologischer Theil,
    Reise der Osterreichischen Fregatte Novara,
    Band 2, Abtheilung 2 (5) (1875), p. 12, and also Plate 125, fig. 4.

    Peter Marriott,
    Moths of Victoria: Part 4,
    Emeralds and Allies - GEOMETROIDEA (B)    ,
    Entomological Society of Victoria, 2012, pp. 30-31.

    C. P. Ohmar, L. G. Stewart, & J. R. Thomas
    Phytophagous insect communities in the canopies of three Eucalyptus forest types in south-eastern Australia,
    Austral Ecology,
    Volume 8, Issue 4 (December 1983), pp. 395-403

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    (updated 28 June 2013, 29 May 2014, 24 June 2018, 7 September 2020)