Heliocheilus cistella (Swinhoe, 1901)
 (formerly known as Canthylidia cistella)
HELIOTHINAE,   NOCTUIDAE,   NOCTUOIDEA
 
Don Herbison-Evans
(donherbisonevans@yahoo.com)
and
Stella Crossley


(Photo: courtesy of Steve Borkowskis, Numeralla, New South Wales)

The adult moth is buff coloured, with several dark spots on each forewing. The wingspan is about 2 cms.


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

This species has been found in

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


    female, drawing by George Francis Hampson, listed as Melicleptria cistella,
    Catalogue of Lepidoptera Phalænæ in the British Museum,
    Noctuidæ, Volume IV (1903), Plate LVII, figure 11,
    image courtesy of Biodiversity Heritage Library, digitized by Ernst Mayr Library, Harvard University.

    Further reading :

    Marcus Matthews,
    Heliothine Moths of Australia:
    A Guide to Pest Bollworms and Related Noctuid Groups,
    CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne 1999, pp. 56-58, 157, 196, Plate 7.

    Charles Swinhoe,
    New and little known moths from India and Australia,
    The Annals and Magazine of Natural History,
    Series 7, Volume 8 (1901), p. 127.

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    (updated 8 August 2011, 1 June 2026)