Mictodoca toxeuta Meyrick, 1892 Long-nosed Geometrid (previously known as Ecpatites toxeuta) DIPTYCHINI,   ENNOMINAE,   GEOMETRIDAE,   GEOMETROIDEA

Don Herbison-Evans (donherbisonevans@yahoo.com) and Cathy Byrne & Stella Crossley

(Photo: copyright Cathy Byrne)

The adult moths have a complex grey or brown pattern on the forewings. The hindwings are plain pale with some dark marks by the wingtips. The margins of the wings are scalloped. When resting, the moths fold the wings to make a tent-shaped arrangement over the back. The moths have long hairy projecting labial palps The wingspan is about 3.5 cms.

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

The eggs are barrel-shaped with brown sides, yellow tops, and white serrated rims. They are laid in a geometric array on the substrate.

eggs, magnified
(Photo: copyright Cathy Byrne)

The species has been found in

South Australia.

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Further reading :

Marilyn Hewish,
Moths of Victoria: Part 5 - Satin Moths and Allies - GEOMETROIDEA (A),
Entomological Society of Victoria, 2014, pp. 14-15.

Peter B. McQuillan,
An overview of the Tasmanian geometrid moth fauna (Lepidoptera: Geometridae) and its conservation status,
Journal of Insect Conservation,
Volume 8 (2004), Parts 2-3, pp. 209-220.

Edward Meyrick,
Revision of Australian Lepidoptera V,
Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales,
Series 2, Volume 6, Part 4 (1891), pp. 661-662, No. 97.

Cathy Byrne,
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 April 2005, 19 February 2021)