male
(Photo: copyright Cathy Byrne)

When at rest, the moths of this species fold their wing like a tent, unlike many other Geometrids which lay out their wings flat. The moths have a wingspan of about 5 cms.

female
(Photo: courtesy of CSIRO/BIO Photography Group, Centre for Biodiversity Genomics, University of Guelph)

Both sexes of adult moth have forewings that are greyish-brown with dark grey squiggles. The veins are brown. The hind wings are a uniform satin grey-brown, darkening toward the wingtips. The bodies of the male are narrower than those of the female. The males have feathery antennae, and the females have thread-like antennae.

male
(Photo: courtesy of CSIRO/BIO Photography Group, Centre for Biodiversity Genomics, University of Guelph)

The species is found in Australia in the highlands of

The eggs are laid in a distinctive formation, at a slight angle to the substrate, and slightly overlapping each other, like roof shingles. The eggs are initially pale bluish-green mottled with paler green, changing later in colour to transparent on maturity. They appear to hatch after rain.

Further reading :

Marilyn Hewish,
Moths of Victoria: Part 5 - Satin Moths and Allies - GEOMETROIDEA (A),
Entomological Society of Victoria, 2014, pp. 28-29.

Peter B. McQuillan, Catherine J. Young, & Alistair M.M. Richardson,
A revision of the Australian moth genus Paralaea Guest (Lepidoptera: Geometridae: Ennominae),
Invertebrate Taxonomy,
Volume 15, part 3 (2001), pp. 277-317.

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 25 July 2020