![]() | Lantana Defoliator (one synonym : Hypena acrocompsa Turner, 1932) HYPENINAE, EREBIDAE, NOCTUOIDEA | (donherbisonevans@yahoo.com) and Stella Crossley |
(Photo: courtesy of
Graeme Cocks, Townsville, Queensland)
These caterpillars feed on
The caterpillars feed on the flesh underneath the leaves leaving the upper skin intact.
The species was introduced into Hawaii in an attempt to control that weed, and then in 1965 into Australia.
The adult moth has brown patterned forewings. The wingspan is about 2.5 cms.
The species was originally found in Africa, including
and is now found in
and also in Australia in
Further reading :
Ian F.B. Common,
Moths of Australia,
Melbourne University Press, 1990, fig. 44.7, pp. 72, 448.
Peter Marriott,
Moths of Victoria - Part 8,
Night Moths and Allies - NOCTUOIDEA(B),
Entomological Society of Victoria, 2017, pp. 8-9.
Ebbe S. Nielsen, Edward D. Edwards, & T.V. Rangsi (eds),
Checklist of Australian Lepidoptera,
CSIRO Publishing, 1996, pp. 294, 338, 371.
Buck Richardson,
Tropical Queensland Wildlife from Dusk to Dawn Science and Art,
LeapFrogOz, Kuranda, 2015, p. 164.
Francis Walker,
Deltoides,
List of the Specimens of Lepidopterous Insects in the Collection of the British Museum,
Part 16 (1859), p. 60, No. 68.
![]() caterpillar | ![]() butterflies | ![]() caterpillars | ![]() moths | ![]() caterpillar |
(written 6 March 2005, updated 1 February 2025)