Pseudanapaea transvestita Hering, 1931
Orange Cup Moth
 (one synonym : Anapaea trigona Turner, 1942)
LIMACODIDAE,   ZYGAENOIDEA
 
Don Herbison-Evans
(donherbisonevans@yahoo.com)
and
Stella Crossley

Pseudanapaea transvestita
(Photo: courtesy of Wendy Moore, near Coburg, Victoria)

This caterpillar is fat in the middle and pointed at both ends. It is green or orange with a pale yellow stripe along the dorsal ridge. Actually the point at the head end is just a shield that it pulls down over its grey head when it feels threatened.

Pseudanapaea transvestita
(Photo: courtesy of Wendy Moore, near Coburg, Victoria)

The caterpillar feeds on the foliage of

  • Gum Trees ( Eucalyptus species, MYRTACEAE ).

    The caterpillar pupates in a tough oval cocoon stuck on a twig.

    Pseudanapaea transvestita
    Photo: courtesy of Buck Richardson, from
    Tropical Queensland Wildlife from Dusk to Dawn Science and Art

    The adult moth has freckly brown forewings, each with three prominent orange spots, two edged with expanded white areas. The hindwings and abdomen are brown, and the thorax is off-white and hairy. The wingspan is about 2.5 cms.

    Pseudanapaea transvestita
    (Photo: courtesy of Jeff Keyes, Sportsman Creek Wildlife Refuge, New South Wales)

    It is thought that Pseudanapaea transvestita is basically a southern species, but sightings have been reported from

  • Northern Territory,
  • Queensland,
  • New South Wales,
  • Australian Capital Territory,
  • Victoria,
  • South Australia, and
  • Western Australia.

    Pseudanapaea transvestita
    drawing by Erich Martin Hering    ,
    Bombyces and Sphinges of the Indo-Australian Region, Plate 86, Fig. g4,
    in Adalbert Seitz (ed.): The Macrolepidoptera of the World, Volume 10 (1933),
    image courtesy of Biodiversity Heritage Library, digitized by Natural History Museum Library, London.

    It is possible that the specimens found in eastern Australia north of the Queensland border listed as Pseudanapaea transvestita may be misidentifications of Pseudanapaea denotata, and the ones from Western Australia are possible misidentifications of Pseudanapaea dentifascia, but it is also possible that all these names have been mis-applied to other so-far unnamed species in the genus Pseudanapaea.

    Pseudanapaea transvestita
    underside
    (Photo: courtesy of Graeme Cocks, Townsville, Queensland)

    Further reading :

    Erich Martin Hering,
    Bombyces and Sphinges of the Indo-Australian Region,
    in Adalbert Seitz (ed.): The Macrolepidoptera of the World,
    Volume 10 (1933), p. 683, and also Plate 86, Fig. g4.

    Peter B. McQuillan, Jan A. Forrest, David Keane, & Roger Grund,
    Caterpillars, moths, and their plants of Southern Australia,
    Butterfly Conservation South Australia Inc., Adelaide (2019), p. 74.

    Buck Richardson,
    Tropical Queensland Wildlife from Dusk to Dawn Science and Art,
    LeapFrogOz, Kuranda, 2015, p. 106.

    previous
    back
    caterpillar
    Australian
    Australian Butterflies
    butterflies
    Australian
    home
    Lepidoptera
    Australian
    Australian Moths
    moths
    next
    next
    caterpillar

    (updated 23 December 2012, 19 February 2018, 4 July 2019, 10 October 2019, 24 March 2021)