In later caterpillars: the head becomes brown, and the black lines break into lines of dashes along each side. The final instars are lime green with purple tubercles each of which has a cluster of short stiff hairs.

(Photo: courtesy of Ethan Beaver, Kununurra, Western Australia)

There is a considerable variation in the coloration of adults of this species. The basic adult moth is yellow with two zig-zag brown lines across each wing. The forewings each have a small brown-outlined transparent dot in the middle. The hindwings have a submarginal arc of dark spots. The wingspan is about 10 cms.

dark form
(Photo: courtesy of Ethan Beaver, Darwin, Northern Territory)

However, the wings can be brown. The moth typically has a wingspan of 11 cms.

The species has been found in Australia in

Further reading :

David A. Lane, (Ted) E.D. Edwards, & Stefan Naumann,
A revision of the genus Syntherata Maasen, 1873 (Lepidoptera: Saturniidae) within Australia, with the description of three new species, and descriptions of their life histories,
The European Entomologist,
Volume 3, Part 1 (2010), pp. 21-27, figs. 6, 19, 54-69.

John O. Westwood,
Descriptions of some new species of exotic moths belonging or allied to the genus Saturnia,
Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London,
Part 21 (1853), pp. 166-167.

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(written 12 February 2017, updated 10 December 2017)