Eggfruit Caterpillar (one synonym : Eretria obsistalis Snellen, 1880) SPILOMELINAE, CRAMBIDAE, PYRALOIDEA | (donherbisonevans@yahoo.com) and Stella Crossley |
(Photo: Don Herbison-Evans, Sydney, Australia)
These Caterpillars are an agricultural pest on various members of the family SOLANACEAE, tunneling into the stems and fruit of:
We found one boring into the stems of
The caterpillar is initially off-white, but becomes bright pink as it matures. The caterpillar grows to a length of about 2 cms.
It pupated in the tunnel it had bored in its food plant.
The adult is off-white, with brown tips to the fore wings, and a pattern of pale brown blotches.
The moth has a wingspan of about 2 cms. It has a characteristic posture when resting, curling its abdomen over its head.
The species is found in :
and over the whole of Australia, including:
Attempts to control the pest include using:
The species was originally placed in the genus Margaritia, by Doubleday in 1843, but various taxonomists have subsequently placed it in other genera, including Daraba, Eretria, and Leucinodes.
Further reading :
Ian F.B. Common,
Moths of Australia,
Melbourne University Press, 1990, pl. 9.16, pp. 66, 358.
Edward Doubleday,
with Adam White :
List of the annulose animals hitherto recorded as found in
New Zealand with descriptions of some new species,
in: Ernest Dieffenbach,
Travels in New Zealand,
John Murray, London 1843, Volume 2, p. 288, No. 128.
Peter Hendry,
A Night at Ray's,
Butterflies and Other Invertebrates Club,
Metamorphosis Australia,
Issue 57 (June 2010), pp. 30-32.
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. 78.
(listed as Leucinodes cordalis)
Buck Richardson,
Tropical Queensland Wildlife from Dusk to Dawn Science and Art,
LeapFrogOz, Kuranda, 2015, p. 48.
caterpillar | butterflies | Lepidoptera | moths | caterpillar |
(updated 2 February 2013, 14 July 2024)