The caterpillars have reduced legs, and locomote using a slug-like movement of the underside of the body. The caterpillar grows to a length of about 3 cms.

cocoon, formed in captivity
(Photo: courtesy of Helen Schwencke, Brisbane, and Ann Hobson, Theodore, Queensland

The cocoon is formed under ground debris on some suitable surface. The cocoon is approximately spherical with a diameter of about 1 cm. It is composed of silk, and the surface hardened with a secretion.

(Photo: courtesy of Helen Schwencke, Brisbane, and Ann Hobson, Theodore, Queensland)

The adult moth has cream forewings with black speckles and a row of brown dots parallel to the margin. The hindwings are pale brown. The moth has a wingspan of about 3 cms.

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

The species occurs in :

Association of this species with the Rainbow Battleship Caterpillar may be mistaken.

Further reading :

Arthur G. Butler,
Descriptions of Lepidoptera heterocera from the Australian Region,
Transactions of the Entomological Society of London,
1886, p. 388.

Ian F.B. Common,
Moths of Australia, Melbourne University Press, 1990, pl. 8.8, pp. 301-302.

Buck Richardson,
Tropical Queensland Wildlife from Dusk to Dawn Science and Art,
LeapFrogOz, Kuranda, 2015, p. 104.

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(updated 28 May 2013, 15 October 2023)