Abantiades latipennis Tindale, 1932
Brown Ghost Moth, Pindi Moth
HEPIALIDAE,   HEPIALOIDEA
 
Don Herbison-Evans
(donherbisonevans@yahoo.com)
and
Peter Marriott & Stella Crossley

Abantiades latipennis
male, with full set of white flashes
(Photo: courtesy of Ethan Beaver, Maydena, Tasmania)

The caterpillars of this species dig vertical tunnels in the ground and are known to feed on the roots of:

  • Mountain Ash ( Eucalyptus regnans ), and
  • Messmates (Eucalyptus obliqua),

    both of MYRTACEAE.

    The caterpillars pupate at the bottom of their tunnel.

    Abantiades latipennis
    male, with vestigial white flash
    (Photo: courtesy of Katarina Christenson, Paddys River, Australian Capital Territory)

    These adult moths are grey-brown with variable white flashes and other more complex faint markings on the forewings. The hindwings are plain brown. The moths have unipectinate antennae. The male moths have a wingspan of about 8 cms. The females are greyer and bigger, with a wingspan of about 13 cms.

    Abantiades latipennis
    male
    (Photo: copyright of Peter Marriott)

    The species is found in

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


    Further reading :

    Ian F.B. Common,
    Moths of Australia, Melbourne University Press, 1990, fig. 18.2, pp. 60, 150.

    Axel Kallies,
    Moths of Victoria - Part 6,
    Ghost Moths - HEPIALIDAE and Allies
    ,
    Entomological Society of Victoria, 2015, pp. 22-23.

    Thomas J. Simonsen,
    Splendid Ghost Moths and their Allies,
    A Revision of Australian Abantiades, Oncopera, Aenetus, Archaeoaenetus and Zelotypia (Hepialidae),
    Monographs on Australian Lepidoptera Volume 12,
    CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne, 2018, pp. 72, 75, 76, 161, 190, Plates 8. 44.

    Norman B. Tindale,
    Revision of the Australian Ghost Moths (Lepidoptera Homoneura, Family Hepialidae) ,
    Records of the South Australian Museum,
    Volume 4, Part 4 (1935), pp. 530-532, figs. 54-56.


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    (updated 17 September 2011, 31 August 2021)