The caterpillars pupate in cocoons, typically attached singly to the main stem of their foodplant.

male
(Photo: courtesy of Ethan Beaver, Alice Springs, Northern Territory)

The adult moths typically have yellow-brown wings, each with a single brown eyespot in the middle, and a diffuse brown line parallel to the outer margin. There is a pink and black spot at the tip of each forewing. The male moths have a wingspan of about 9 cms. The female moths have a wingspan of about 11 cms.

female
(Photo: courtesy of Ethan Beaver, Alice Springs, Northern Territory)

The eggs are round and cream coloured, developing brown markings as hatching approaches. They are laid in irregular clusters on random substrates.

eggs and first instar caterpillars, magnified
(Photo: courtesy of Ethan Beaver, Alice Springs, Northern Territory)

The species has been found inland in Australia, in:

This species was moved from the genus Opodiphthera to Austrocaligula by Brechlin in 2005, and many Taxonomists disagree with this reassignment. Here, we follow Brechlin in this most recent publication on this family.

Further reading :

Ronald Brechlin,
Einige Anmerkungen zur Gattung Neodiphthera Fletcher, 1982 stat. rev. mit Beschreibung von vier neuen Arten (Lepidoptera: Saturniidae),
Nachrichten des Entomologischen Vereins Apollo,
N.F. 26 , Parts 1/2 (2005), pp. 17–29.

Ian F.B. Common,
Moths of Australia,
Melbourne University Press, 1990, pl. 15.6, p. 406
(listed as Opodiphthera engaea)

Buck Richardson,
Tropical Queensland Wildlife from Dusk to Dawn Science and Art,
LeapFrogOz, Kuranda, 2015, p. 193,
(listed as Opodiphthera engaea)

A. Jefferis Turner,
Revision of Australian Lepidoptera,
Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales,
Volume 47 No.1 (1922), pp. 354-355, No. 4.

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(updated 21 November 2012, 12 February 2017, 15 September 2019, 12 August 2020, 21 April 2022)