Aenetus lewinii (Walker, 1856) Lewin's Splendid Ghost Moth (one synonym : Charagia lamberti Walker, 1856) HEPIALIDAE,   HEPIALOIDEA

Don Herbison-Evans (donherbisonevans@yahoo.com) and Stella Crossley

female
(Photo: courtesy of Ethan Beaver, Lennox Head, New South Wales)

The adult moths of this species are so dimorphic that the sexes were originally thought to be two different species. The female moths are reddish brown, with several jagged green patches on each forewing.

male
(Photo: courtesy of Ethan Beaver, Lennox Head, New South Wales)

The male adult moths have green forewings, each with white markings including a transverse streak. The hindwings are white.

The species is found in

Victoria.

female
drawing by by E.H. Zeck, erroneously listed as Charaga lignivora,
in Walter W. Froggatt: Forest insects of Australia, Sydney 1923, Frontispiece, fig. 3a,
image courtesy of Biodiversity Heritage Library, digitized by NCSU Libraries.

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Further reading :

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.

Francis Walker,
Lepidoptera Heterocera,
List of the Specimens of Lepidopterous Insects in the Collection of the British Museum,
Part 7 (1856), pp. 1570-1571, Nos. 4 & 5.

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(written 4 April 2018, updated 31 January 2019, 11 April 2021)