male
(Photo: courtesy of David Rentz, Kuranda, Queensland)

The male adult moths have blue-green forewings and white hindwings. The males have a set of brown hairs at the base of the wings that emit a pheromone. Some humans can smell this, and some cannot.

female
(Photo: courtesy of David Rentz, Kuranda, Queensland)

The females have brownish green forewings and yellow hindwings. The moths often have a wingspan exceeding 10 cms.

female
(Picture: courtesy of Shell Australia)

The eggs are spherical, and initially white. They are laid in random piles.

eggs
Photo: courtesy of Buck Richardson, from
Tropical Queensland Wildlife from Dusk to Dawn Science and Art

The species is found in

Further reading :

Ian F.B. Common,
Moths of Australia,
Melbourne University Press, 1990, pls, 2.1, 2.9, pp. 46, 148.

Buck Richardson,
Tropical Queensland Wildlife from Dusk to Dawn Science and Art,
LeapFrogOz, Kuranda, 2015, pp. 94-95.

Lionel Walter Rothschild,
On a new species of the Hepialid genus Oenetus,
Annals and Magazine of Natural History,
Series 6, Volume 13 (1894), p. 440.

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.

Paul Zborowski and Ted Edwards,
A Guide to Australian Moths,
CSIRO Publishing, 2007, p. 41.

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(updated 24 November 2011)