cocoon
(Photo: courtesy of Steven Dodge, Nowra, New South Wales)

The caterpillars pupate on a tree trunk in a cocoon covered in mud and detritus. They usually pupate just over a metre from the ground. They climb down to the ground and eat some dirt, then climb back up, often pupating on a tree other than the one they were feeding on. They spin a layer of semi-hard silk, and then add about 2 mm of dirt to the outside. Some also add bits of bark and moss.

female
(Photo: courtesy of Peter Marriott, Moths of Victoria - Part 1)

The adults are white with brown markings. The thorax is white and hairy, with black markings that sometimes resemble a face. The female has a wingspan of about 6 cms. The male has a wingspan of about 4 cms.

male
(Photo: courtesy of Peter Marriott, Moths of Victoria - Part 1)

The species has been found in

Further reading :

Ian F.B. Common,
Moths of Australia,
Melbourne University Press, 1990, pl. 12.15, p. 390.

Edward Donovan,
General Illustration of Entomology,
An Epitome of the Natural History of the Insects of New Holland, New Zealand, New Guinea, Otaheite and other Islands in the Indian, Southern and Pacific Oceans,
London (1803), Part 1, p. 159, and also Plate on p. 158.

Peter Marriott,
Moths of Victoria - Part 1,
Silk Moths and Allies - BOMBYCOIDEA,
Entomological Society of Victoria, 2008, pp. 12,13.

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(updated 6 April 2013, 15 March 2015, 19 February 2019, 2 October 2020)