About 100 eggs are laid by the female moth, which hatch in a few days. The baby Caterpillars bore into the developing shoots of the food plant, and work their way down onto more mature foliage. After a few weeks, they pupate, and after another few weeks, the adult moths emerge.

(Photo: courtesy of John Weiss, Ian Faithfull, and Nicole Freeman
of the Keith Turnbull Research Institute, Frankston, Victoria)

The Caterpillar is reported to feed on:

White Horehound ( Marrubium vulgare ),

both in LAMIACEAE.

(Photo: courtesy of Halina Steele, Canberra)

The moth is white with variable faint brown markings. It has spiny legs and multilobed wings.

The species has been introduced deliberately into Australia from France in order to control these weeds. It can now be found in:

South Australia.

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(updated 17 July 2010)