Heliocheilus aberrans (Butler, 1886)
Grainy Grass Moth
 (formerly known as Heliothis aberrans)
HELIOTHINAE,   NOCTUIDAE,   NOCTUOIDEA
 
Don Herbison-Evans
(donherbisonevans@yahoo.com)
and
Stella Crossley


Photo: courtesy of Marcus Matthews,
Heliothine Moths of Australia: A Guide to Pest Bollworms and Related Noctuid Groups

The Caterpillars of this species are green, with a dark line aong the back, and with a dark line over a pale line along each side.


(Photo: courtesy of the Photography Group, Centre for Biodiversity Genomics, University of Guelph)

The adult moth is brown with spotty dark markings and a pale streak along each forewing, and a dark border containing a pale patch on each hindwing. The wingspan is about 3 cms.


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

The species occurs in

  • Western Australia,
  • Northern Territory,
  • Queensland,
  • New South Wales, and
  • Victoria.


    male, drawing by George Francis Hampson, listed as Melicleptria aberrans,
    Catalogue of Lepidoptera Phalænæ in the British Museum,
    Noctuidæ, Volume IV (1903), Plate LVII, figure 22,
    image courtesy of Biodiversity Heritage Library, digitized by Ernst Mayr Library, Harvard University.

    Further reading :

    Arthur G. Butler,
    Descriptions of 21 new genera and 103 new species of Lepidoptera Heterocera from the Australian region,
    Transactions of the Entomological Society of London,
    1886, Part 4, pp. 405-406, No. 41.

    Peter Marriott & Marilyn Hewish,
    Moths of Victoria - Part 9,
    Cutworms and Allies - NOCTUOIDEA (C)    ,
    Entomological Society of Victoria, 2020, pp. 32-35.

    Marcus Matthews,
    Heliothine Moths of Australia: A Guide to Pest Bollworms and Related Noctuid Groups,
    Monographs on Australian Lepidoptera: Volume 7,
    CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne 1999, pp. 46-48, 151, 195, Plates 6.1-6.20, 14.4, 16.7, 16.8.

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    (updated 7 August 2011, 31 July 2017, 15 August 2019, 26 December 2020)