Chrysolarentia decisaria

Chrysolarentia decisaria (Walker, 1863)
Grassland or Tunbridge Looper
(one synonym is: Camptogramma monacmaria Mabille, 1897)
XANTHORHOINI, LARENTIINAE, GEOMETRIDAE, GEOMETROIDEA

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

(Photo: copyright Cathy Byrne)

These Caterpillars are threatened with extinction. They feed in native pastures on herbaceous plants that such as :

Australian Native Geranium ( Pelargonium rodneyanum, GERANIACEAE ), and

Tunbridge Buttercup ( Ranunculus prasinus, RANUNCULACEAE ).

The caterpillars are brown with a broad pale dorsal stripe, and a similar stripe each side. It has short sparse hairs, each arising from a darker brown spot.

Since the nineteenth century the species has been in decline. This is probably due to:

the advent of sheep which also feed on the foodplants of the caterpillar,

the introduction of new forage plants which have displaced these foodplants, and

the fertilisation of the pastures which gives advantages to other plants.

The species is now considered to be threatened.

(Photo: courtesy of Peter Marriott, Moths of Victoria: Part 3)

The adult moths have brown wings with wavy pale bands across them. The wingspan is about 2 cms.

undersides
(Photo: courtesy of Peter Marriott, Moths of Victoria: Part 3)

The species has been found in

Victoria, and

Tasmania.

Further reading:

Peter Marriott,
Moths of Victoria: Part 3,
Waves & Carpets - GEOMETROIDEA (C),
Entomological Society of Victoria, 2011, pp. 20-21.

Francis Walker,
Geometrites,
List of the Specimens of Lepidopterous Insects in the Collection of the British Museum,
Part 26 (1863), p. 1671, Pg. 1088.

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(updated 2 March 2013, 12 May 2018, 8 September 2021)