Abantiades leucochiton (Pfitzner, 1914)
 (formerly known as Pielus leucochiton)
White Ghost Moth
HEPIALIDAE,   HEPIALOIDEA
 
Don Herbison-Evans
(donherbisonevans@yahoo.com)
and
Stella Crossley

Abantiades leucochiton
male
(Photo: courtesy of Ethan Beaver, Morgan, South Australia)

This species has dark brown wings, each forewing having two ragged white stripes and various faint labyrinthine markings. The hindwings are grey, the males paler than the females. The wing bases are covered in pale grey hairs. The male moths have a wingspan of about 10 cms. The female moths have a wingspan of about 15 cms.

Abantiades leucochiton
female
(Photo: courtesy of Ethan Beaver, Morgan, South Australia)

The species has been found in

  • New South Wales,
  • Victoria,
  • South Australia, and
  • Western Australia.

    Further reading :

    Axel Kallies,
    Moths of Victoria - Part 6,
    Ghost Moths - HEPIALIDAE and Allies    ,
    Entomological Society of Victoria, 2015, pp. 20-21.

    Rudolf Pfitzner,
    Neue Hepialiden,
    Entomologische Rundschau,
    Volume 31 (1914), pp. 95-96.

    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. 46, 55, 76, 78, 80, Plate 10.

    Norman B. Tindale,
    Revision of the Australian Ghost Moths (Lepidoptera Homoneura, Family Hepialidae) ,
    Records of the South Australian Museum,
    Volume 4, Part 4 (1932), pp. 526-527, figs. 48, 49.

    previous
    back
    caterpillar
    Australian
    Australian Butterflies
    butterflies
    Australian
    home
    Lepidoptera
    Australian
    Australian Moths
    moths
    next
    next
    caterpillar

    (written 7 September 2016, updated 1 April 2018)