Acatapaustus metallopa (Meyrick, 1886)
Halved Tuft-moth
(previously known as Uraba metallopa)
NOLINAE,   NOLIDAE,   NOCTUOIDEA
 
Don Herbison-Evans
(donherbisonevans@yahoo.com)
and
Stella Crossley

Acatapaustus metallopa
drawing by Walter W. Froggatt, listed as Nola metallopa,

Forest insects of Australia, Sydney 1923, p. 67,
image courtesy of Biodiversity Heritage Library, digitized by NCSU Libraries.

These Caterpillars have been found on various Gum Trees ( MYRTACEAE ), including :

  • Scarlet-Flowering Gum ( Eucalyptus ficifolia ), and
  • River Red Gum ( Eucalyptus camaldulensis ).

    The caterpillars are pale yellow when young, becoming darker in later instars. They are hairy, and the hairs on the head accumulate the cast skins from earlier instars. The caterpillars grow to a length of about 1.5 cms.

    When mature, they each pupate in a streamlined cocoon attached to a twig of the food plant.

    Acatapaustus metallopa
    (Photo: courtesy of Graeme Cocks, Townsville, Queensland)

    The adult moth of this species is fawn with a large dark band across each forewing. The moth has a wingspan of about 2 cms.

    Acatapaustus metallopa
    (Specimen: courtesy of The Australian Museum)

    The species is found in:

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


    Further reading :

    Ian F.B. Common,
    Moths of Australia,
    Melbourne University Press, 1990, fig. 47.19, p. 457.

    Peter Marriott,
    Moths of Victoria - Part 2,
    Tiger Moths and Allies - NOCTUOIDEA (A)
    ,
    Entomological Society of Victoria, 2009, pp. 32-33.

    Edward Meyrick,
    Revision of Australian Lepidoptera. I,
    Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales,
    Series 2, Volume 1, Part 3 (1886), pp. 726-727, No. 55.


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    (updated 13 November 2012, 10 February 2021)