Stenoptilia zophodactylus (Duponchel, [1840])
Dowdy Plume Moth
 (one synonym : Pterophorus loewii Zeller, 1847)
PTEROPHORINAE,   PTEROPHORIDAE,   PTEROPHORIOIDEA
 
Don Herbison-Evans
(donherbisonevans@yahoo.com)
and
Debbie Matthews & Stella Crossley

This Caterpillar is reported to feed on the flowers of various members of the family GENTIANACEAE including :

  • Yellow-wort ( Blackstonia perfoliata ),
  • Centaury ( Centaurium erythraea ),
  • Seaside Centaury ( Centaurium littorale ),
  • Slender Centaury ( Centaurium pulchellum ),
  • Showy Prairie Gentian ( Eustoma russellianum ),
  • German Gentian ( Gentianella germanica ),
  • Mountain Gentian ( Chionogentias diemensis ),
  • Yellow Gentian ( Gentiana lutea ), and
  • California Centaury ( Zeltnera venusta ).

    Stenoptilia zophodactylus
    (Photo: courtesy of Donald Hobern, Aranda, Australian Capital Territory)

    The adult moth is plain brown, and has a wingspan of about 1 cm. The species has been found all over the world, including:

  • France,
  • India,
  • Mexico,
  • New Zealand,
  • U.K.,

    and also in Australia, including:

  • Western Australia,
  • Northern Territory,
  • Queensland,
  • New South Wales,
  • Australian Capital Territory,
  • Victoria,
  • Tasmania, and
  • South Australia.

    Stenoptilia zophodactyla
    drawing by Philogène Auguste Joseph Duponchel, listed as Pterophorus zophodactylus,
    in J.B. Godart & P.A.J. Duponchel: Tineites, Histoire naturelle des Lépidoptères ou Papillons de France,
    Volume 11 (1840), Plate CCCXIV, fig. 4,
    image courtesy of Biodiversity Heritage Library, digitized by Smithsonian Libraries.

    Further reading :

    Ian F.B. Common,
    Moths of Australia, Melbourne University Press, 1990, fig. 30.15, p. 332.

    Philogène Auguste Joseph Duponchel,
    Tineites,
    in J.B. Godart & P.A.J. Duponchel:
    Histoire naturelle des Lépidoptères ou Papillons de France,
    Volume 11 (1840), p. 668, and also Plate 314, fig. 4.

    Peter B. McQuillan, Jan A. Forrest, David Keane, & Roger Grund,
    Caterpillars, moths, and their plants of Southern Australia,
    Butterfly Conservation South Australia Inc., Adelaide (2019), p. 58.

    Philipp C. Zeller,
    Bemerkungen uber die auf einer Reise nach Italien und Sicilien beobachteten Schmetterlingsarten,
    Isis von Oken,
    Volume 40, Part 12 (1847), p. 904, No. 444.

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    (updated 31 October 2012, 20 December 2025)