| Kadam Defoliator (one synonym : Margarodes aquosalis Snellen, [1880]) SPILOMELINAE, CRAMBIDAE, PYRALOIDEA | (donherbisonevans@outlook.com) and Bart Hacobian & Stella Crossley |
(Photo: courtesy of
Buck Richardson, Kuranda, Queensland)
|
| Kadam Defoliator (one synonym : Margarodes aquosalis Snellen, [1880]) SPILOMELINAE, CRAMBIDAE, PYRALOIDEA | (donherbisonevans@outlook.com) and Bart Hacobian & Stella Crossley |
(Photo: courtesy of
Buck Richardson, Kuranda, Queensland)
The caterpillars of this species are yellow, with a brown head, black thorax, black tail, and pairs of black spots along the back. The caterpillars are a pest, attacking :
The caterpillars abseil down silk threads to the ground to pupate in the ground litter.
The adults are a beautiful green colour, with a brown line along the costa of each forewing with two adjacent brown dots, and brown dots along the margin of each hind wing, and often along the abdomen. The moths have a wingspan of about 3 cms.
The green wings are blotchy, in contrast to the green Pyralids in the genus Parotis, which have uniformly coloured wings, see for example : Parotis suralis.
The species occurs over south-east Asia, including :
as well as in Australia in
Further reading :
Buck Richardson,
Tropical Queensland Wildlife from Dusk to Dawn Science and Art,
LeapFrogOz, Kuranda, 2015, p. 32.
Francis Walker,
Pyralides,
List of the Specimens of Lepidopterous Insects in the Collection of the British Museum,
Part 18 (1859), p. 532, No. 33.
 caterpillar |  butterflies |  Lepidoptera |  moths |  caterpillar |
(updated 1 February 2013)