Australothis rubrescens (Walker, 1858)
Indian Weed Caterpillar
(one synonym : Heliothis hyperchroa Turner, 1920)
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

This Caterpillar is green or brown with white stripes and a mottled pattern. The caterpillar has been found on various species of plants from ASTERACEAE, including:

  • Flat Billy-buttons ( Ixiolaena brevicompta ),
  • Tall Copper-wire Daisy ( Podolepis longipedata ),
  • Indian Weed ( Sigesbeckia orientalis ),

    but has also been found on

  • Hibiscus ( Hibiscus species, MALVACEAE ),
  • Bush Tomato ( Solanum dioicum, SOLANACEAE ),
  • Grass Triggerplant ( Stylidium graminifolium, STYLIDIACEAE ).


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

    This adult moth has variable reddish brown forewings, each with variable dark markings including a vague dark spot in the middle.


    (Photo: courtesy of JohnBundock, Wanniassa, Australian Capital Territory)

    The hindwings are pale yellow with a wide black border. The wingspan is about 3 cms.


    (Specimen: courtesy of the Macleay Museum, University of Sydney)

    The species has been found in

  • New Zealand,

    and all over Australia, including

  • Western Australia,
  • Northern Territory,
  • Queensland,
  • Norfolk Island.
  • New South Wales,
  • Australian Capital Territory,
  • Victoria,
  • Tasmania, and
  • South Australia.


    underside
    (Photo: copyright of Uwe Path, Alice Springs, Northern Territory)


    Further reading :

    Ian F.B. Common,
    Moths of Australia,
    Melbourne University Press, 1990, p. 469.

    Peter B. McQuillan, Jan A. Forrest, David Keane, & Roger Grund,
    Caterpillars, moths, and their plants of Southern Australia,
    Butterfly Conservation South Australia Inc., Adelaide (2019), pp. 168-169.

    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,
    CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne 1999, pp. 99-102, 179-181, 200-201, Plates 11.9-11.20, 15.2, 19.1-19.3, 22.8, 23.7.

    Francis Walker,
    Catalogue of Lepidoptera Heterocera,
    List of the Specimens of Lepidopterous Insects in the Collection of the British Museum,
    Part 15 (1858), pp. 1681-1682, pg. 215.


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    (updated 15 April 2013, 6 September 2017, 26 December 2020)