This Caterpillar is usually brown and hairy, although the colour can vary from yellow to black. Whatever colour it is, characteristically it has four pale tufts of hair on abdominal segments 1-4, and also a tuft on its tail, and also two black tufts on its head pointing diagonally left and right like a pair of horns. Behind the dorsal tufts are two red markings, surrounding dorsal glands on segments 6 and 7. The hairs can cause skin irritation ( urticaria ) in sensitive people.

black form
(Photo: courtesy Merlin Crossley)

young caterpillars ballooning (Photo: courtesy of Rudie Kuiter, Aquatic Photographics, Victoria)

The Caterpillars have been found feeding on a variety of plants in suburban gardens including : Dahlia ( Dahlia pinnata, ASTERACEAE ), Cypress ( Cupressus, CUPRESSACEAE ), Lupin ( Lupinus nanus, FABACEAE ), Geranium ( Pelargonium x zonale, GERANIACEAE ), Gladiola ( Gladiolus byzantinus, IRIDACEAE ), Albizia ( Albizia species, MIMOSACEAE ), Banana Fruit ( Musa acuminata, MUSACEAE ), Passionfruit ( Passiflora edulis, PASSIFLORACEAE ), Primrose ( Primula, PRIMULACEAE ), Roses ( Rosa odorata, ROSACEAE ), Gardenia ( Gardenia jasminoides, RUBIACEAE ), Willow ( Salix, SALICACEAE ), Lantana ( Lantana camara, VERBENACEAE ). In plantation forests, they are a pest on : Monterey Pine ( Pinus radiata, PINACEAE ). In the wild they feed on plants such as: Coral Pea ( Hardenbergia species, FABACEAE ), Wattles ( Acacia species, MIMOSACEAE ), Bottlebrush ( Callistemon species, MYRTACEAE ), Ferns ( POLYPODIOPHYTA ), and Spider Flowers ( Grevillea species, PROTEACEAE ). The males grow to a length of about 2 cms. The females grow to about 3 cms.

pupa in cocoon
(Photo : courtesy of Lorraine Jenkins, Port Lincoln Junior Primary School, South Australia)

They pupate amongst the leaves of the foodplant in a sparse cocoon that they decorate with hairs from their larval skin, making thes cocoons likely to cause urticaria too. The adults emerge after a few days.

flightless female
(Photo: courtesy of the Macleay Museum, University of Sydney)

The female adult is dull brown, fat and flightless. She stays beside her cocoon emitting a pheromone to attract males. She lays eggs on and around her cocoon after fertilisation. She has a length of about 1 cm.

cocoon with eggs
(Photo: courtesy of the Macleay Museum, University of Sydney)

The male has light or dark brown patterned forewings, and yellow hind wings with a broad black margin. He has a wing span of about 2 cms.

male

Despite the females being flightless, the newly hatched Caterpillars have a special way of dispersing by spinning threads of silk which are caught in the wind ("ballooning"). So the species is found over most of Australia, including

New Zealand.

So far this species has not spread beyond Australasia, although related and similar species occur in America.

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

The sex pheromone components of this species has been determined by an international research team of Dr. Gerhard Gries (Simon Fraser Univ., Burnaby, B.C., Canada), Dr. John Clearwater (Clearwater Research & Consulting, Auckland, NZ) and Dr. Paul W. Schaefer (U.S. Dept. of Agric., Beneficial Insect Introd. Lab., Newark, USA). In December 2003, John Clearwater and Paul Schaefer completed the final field confirmation trapping in Campbelltown, NSW, using a completely synthetic lure, which proved to be very effective at attracting the males into traps. Therefore, there is now a powerful field sampling tool for population assessment, clarification of distribution or habitat preference, or behavior studies. This research was supported in part by Global Forest, an international research institute based in Banff, Alberta, Canada.

mating pair
(Photo: courtesy of Rudie Kuiter, Aquatic Photographics, Victoria)

Control of the species is being attempted using:

natural wasp predators

pale and dark males attracted to the same female
(Photo: courtesy of Rudie Kuiter, Aquatic Photographics, Victoria)

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Further reading :

David Carter,
Butterflies and Moths, Collins Eyewitness Handbooks, Sydney 1992, p. 271.

Ian F.B. Common,
Moths of Australia, Melbourne University Press, 1990, pl. 18.9, pp. 70, 428.

Pat and Mike Coupar,
Flying Colours, New South Wales University Press, Sydney 1992, p. 65.

Paul Zborowski and Ted Edwards,
A Guide to Australian Moths, CSIRO Publishing, 2007, p. 177.

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(updated 29 January 2013)