Amelora belemnophora Turner, 1947
Ribbon-Cape-moth
DIPTYCHINI,   ENNOMINAE,   GEOMETRIDAE,   GEOMETROIDEA
 
Don Herbison-Evans
(donherbisonevans@yahoo.com)
and
Cathy Byrne & Stella Crossley

Amelora belemnophora
(Photo: copyright Cathy Byrne)

These Caterpillars are brown with a black head that has white dots. It only has one pair of prolegs in addition to the claspers, so it moves in a looper fashion. It rests on the prolegs and claspers looking like a twig.

Amelora belemnophora
female
(Photo: courtesy of Marilyn Hewish, Moths of Victoria: Part 5)

The adult moths are brown with striking dark broad zig-zag bands across each forewing. The hindwings are pale brown, each with a fuzzy dark spot near the middle. The wingspan is about 3 cms.

Amelora belemnophora
male
(Photo: copyright of Brett and Marie Smith, at Ellura Sanctuary, South Australia)

The moths are inclined to rest with their wings folded over the back like a tent, in common with most of the moths in NACOPHORINI.

Amelora belemnophora
eggs magnified
(Photo: copyright Cathy Byrne)

The eggs are laid in a row. They are smooth and squarish-oval, and each has a broad dimple. Their colour is white with red spots.

Amelora belemnophora
male
(Photo: courtesy of Marilyn Hewish, Moths of Victoria: Part 5)

The species has been found in

  • Queensland,
  • New South Wales,
  • Victoria,
  • South Australia, and
  • Western Australia.

    Amelora belemnophora
    male underside
    (Photo: copyright of Brett and Marie Smith, at Ellura Sanctuary, South Australia)


    Further reading :

    Marilyn Hewish,
    Moths of Victoria: Part 5,
    Satin Moths and Allies - GEOMETROIDEA (A)
    ,
    Entomological Society of Victoria, 2014, pp. 10-11.

    A. Jefferis Turner,
    New Australian species of Boarmiadae (Lepidoptera),
    Proceedings of the Royal Society of Queensland,
    Volume 58 (1947), p. 107, No. 88.

    Catherine J. Young,
    Characterisation of the Australian Nacophorini and a Phylogeny for the Geometridae from Molecular and Morphological Data,
    Ph.D. thesis, University of Tasmania, 2003.


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    (updated 4 March 2005, 7 June 2014, 19 December 2015, 3 January 2016, 20 June 2017, 8 September 2021)