This Caterpillar is quite handsome: it is white with four rows of purple spots along the back. It grows to a length of about 1 cm. It is a pest of any stored foodstuff, particularly fruit, and especially grapes. It really prefers grapes that are damaged already and still moist.

(Photo: courtesy of Walter Ebeling, Department of Entomology, University of California Riverside)

The adult moth has fawn forewings and white hindwings. It has a wing span of about 2 cms. The mating behaviour has been investigated, and some of the pheromones have been determined.

The species occurs world-wide, for example in:

the crystallised toxin from the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis ( BACILLACEAE ).

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Further reading :

Ian F.B. Common,
Moths of Australia, Melbourne University Press, 1990, p. 350.

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(updated 11 September 2008)