empty cocoon covered in adhering soil,
and showing part of pupal skin where the adult moth emerged.
(Photo: courtesy of Lara Bullen, Gold Coast, Queensland)

The mature caterpillar burrows underground to pupate. The pupa is formed in a spherical cocoon.

(Photo: courtesy of Dianne Clarke, Mapleton, Queensland)

The adults are brown. The forewings each have a white patch at the wingtip and a white pattern along the hind margin.

(Photo: courtesy of Lara Bullen, Gold Coast, Queensland)

The forewing margins are doubly chequered. The hindwings are plain brown with chequered margins.

(Specimen: courtesy of the Macleay Museum, University of Sydney)

The undersides are dark brown shsding to pale brown at the margins. The underside margins are chequered. The moths have a wingspan of about 5 cms.

underside
(Photo: courtesy of Lara Bullen, Gold Coast, Queensland)

The species is found over much of mainland Australia, including

close up of head
(Photo: courtesy of Lara Bullen, Gold Coast, Queensland)

Further reading :

Ian F.B. Common,
Moths of Australia,
Melbourne University Press, 1990, pls. 8.10, 25.6, p. 302.

Harriet, Helena, and Alexander W. Scott,
Australian Lepidoptera and their Transformations,
Volume 1 (1864), pp. 19-20, and also Plate 6 (lower left)

Francis Walker,
Catalogue of Lepidoptera Heterocera,
List of the Specimens of Lepidopterous Insects in the Collection of the British Museum,
Part 4 (1855), p. 851.

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(updated 13 September 2012, 25 November 2023)