Pseudosesia oberthuri (Le Cerf, 1916)
Golden Clearwing
(erroneously: Phlogothauma oberthueri)
SESIINAE,   SESIIDAE,   SESIOIDEA
 
Don Herbison-Evans
(donherbisonevans@yahoo.com)
and
Stella Crossley


female, drawing by Ferdinand Le Cerf, listed as Phlogothauma oberthuri,

Contributions à l'étude des Aegeriidae, in Charles Oberthür: Étude de Lépidoptèrologie comparée,
Fasc. 14 (1916), Plate CCCLXXVI, fig. 3142,
image courtesy of Biodiversity Heritage Library, digitized by Smithsonian Libraries.

The Caterpillars of this species have been found boring into the stems of :

  • Bush Cassava ( Ampelocissus acetosa, VITACEAE ).


    male, drawing by Ferdinand Le Cerf, listed as Phlogothauma oberthuri,

    Contributions à l'étude des Aegeriidae, in Charles Oberthür: Étude de Lépidoptèrologie comparée,
    Fasc. 14 (1916), Plate CCCLXXVI, fig. 3141,
    image courtesy of Biodiversity Heritage Library, digitized by Smithsonian Libraries.

    The adult moths have transparent wings with narrow brown margins. The forewings of the females are golden coloured. The males have uncoloured wings. The body has two yellow bands, and there is a large tuft of golden hairs on the tip of the abdomen. The head and antennae are also golden.


    underside, female, drawing by Ferdinand Le Cerf, listed as Phlogothauma oberthuri,

    Contributions à l'étude des Aegeriidae, in Charles Oberthür: Étude de Lépidoptèrologie comparée,
    Fasc. 14 (1916), Plate CCCLXXVI, fig. 3142,
    image courtesy of Biodiversity Heritage Library, digitized by Smithsonian Libraries.

    The species occurs in the

  • Northern Territory.


    underside, male, drawing by Ferdinand Le Cerf, listed as Phlogothauma oberthuri,

    Contributions à l'étude des Aegeriidae, in Charles Oberthür: Étude de Lépidoptèrologie comparée,
    Fasc. 14 (1916), Plate CCCLXXVI, fig. 3141,
    image courtesy of Biodiversity Heritage Library, digitized by Smithsonian Libraries.


    Further reading :

    David Carter,
    Butterflies and Moths,
    Collins Eyewitness Handbooks, Sydney 1992, p. 286.

    Ferdinand Le Cerf,
    Contributions à l'étude des Aegeriidae,
    in Charles Oberthür: Étude de Lépidoptèrologie comparée,
    Fasc. 14 (1916), pp. 251-253, and also Plate 376, figs. 3141, 3142.


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    (updated 6 January 2010, 10 March 2017)