The caterpillars pupate on the ground in a cocoon which they cover with debris.

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

The adult moths are brownish purple, with a vague pale or dark mark halfway along the hind margin of each forewing. The forewings have recurved wingtips, and the hindwings each have an angular tornus. The wingspan is about 3.5 cms.

The moth usually rests with the hindwings covered. The females have thread-like antennae. The males have very feathery antennae.

male
(Photo: courtesy of Jenny Holmes, Great Western, Victoria)

The species has been found in:

showing the underside
(Photo: courtesy of Marilyn Hewish, Moths of Victoria: Part 5)

The eggs are laid in a row along the edge of a leaf. The eggs are egg-shaped and white with dark purplish-brown specks that expand to colour the whole egg as it approaches hatching.

eggs
(Photo: courtesy of Steve Williams, Moths of Victoria: Part 5)

Further reading :

Edward Guest,
A classified list of Geometrina found around Balhannah, with notes on species,
Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia,
Volume 9 (1887), p. 139, No. 16.

Marilyn Hewish,
Moths of Victoria: Part 5 - Satin Moths and Allies - GEOMETROIDEA (A),
Entomological Society of Victoria, 2014, pp. 18-19, 32-33, back cover.

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 19 September 2011, 17 September 2013, 7 June 2014, 11 January 2016, 29 September 2020, 12 March 2021)