Common Pinara (one synonym : Rhinogyne australasiae Möschler, 1872) LASIOCAMPINAE, LASIOCAMPIDAE, BOMBYCOIDEA | (donherbisonevans@yahoo.com) and Stella Crossley |
early instar
(Photo: courtesy of Peter Marriott,
Moths of Victoria - Part 1)
The Caterpillar of this species is brown with curved stiff hairs along the sides. There are two orange bands between sements of the thorax, and darker reddish dorsal warts on the first four abdominal segment.
The caterpillar feeds the foliage of :
The adult male and female moths are quite different in appearance.
The female is plain brown, with a subterminal arc of dark dots with orange edges on each forewing.
The male moth has a bold pattern of light and dark brown, with yellow markings underneath. They both have a wingspan of about 4 cms.
The eggs are laid in an irregular array. They are oval and buff coloured, mottled with dark brown, and each has two large dark brown spots.
The species name Pinara divisa seems to be covering a group of very similar species. The group is found in the eastern half of Australia, including
Further reading :
Ian F.B. Common,
Moths of Australia,
Melbourne University Press, 1990, figs. 39.10, 39.11, p. 390.
Peter Marriott,
Moths of Victoria - Part 1,
Silk Moths and Allies - BOMBYCOIDEA,
Entomological Society of Victoria, 2008, pp. 14-15.
Buck Richardson,
Tropical Queensland Wildlife from Dusk to Dawn Science and Art,
LeapFrogOz, Kuranda, 2015, p. 101.
Francis Walker,
Lepidoptera Heterocera,
List of the Specimens of Lepidopterous Insects in the Collection of the British Museum,
Part 4 (1855), p. 973, No. 3.
caterpillar | butterflies | Lepidoptera | moths | caterpillar |
(updated 6 April 2013, 24 February 2019, 1 January 2021)