Parotis marginata

Parotis marginata (Hampson, 1893)
(previously known as Cenocnemis marginata)
SPILOMELINAE, CRAMBIDAE, PYRALOIDEA

Don Herbison-Evans
(donherbisonevans@yahoo.com)
and
Stella Crossley

Parotis marginata
(Photo: courtesy of PC, Brisbane, Queensland)

These Caterpillars are pale green with several raised black lumps on each segment, and a pale brown head. They live in a shelter created from curled or joined leaves held with silk.

(Photo: courtesy of PC, Brisbane, Queensland)

The caterpillars are a pest on:

Milkwood Pine ( Alstonia scholaris, APOCYNACEAE ), and

Gardenia ( Gardenia jasminoides, RUBIACEAE ).

The young caterpillars eat the flesh of the leaves leaving a skeleton of veins. Older caterpillars have been found feeding on the bark.

exposed pupa
(Photo: courtesy of PC, Brisbane, Queensland)

The caterpillars pupate in their shelter. Pupation lasts only 10 days in summer.

(Photo: courtesy of Nick Monaghan, Tewantin, Queensland)

The adults are a deep green colour, with a crenulated brown line around the edges of each wing. The moths have a wing span of about 3 cms.

(Photo: courtesy of PC, Brisbane, Queensland)

The male moths have a black hairy coremata.

male
(Photo: courtesy of Dianne Clarke, Mapleton, Queensland)

The species has been found across south-east Asia, including

Papua New Guinea, 1994

as well as Australia, where it has been found in

Western Australia,

Northern Territory,

Queensland, and

New South Wales.

drawing by George F. Hampson, listed as Cenocnemis marginata,
The Macrolepidoptera Heterocera of Ceylon,
Illustrations of typical specimens of Lepidoptera Heterocera in the British Museum,
Part IX (1893), Plate CLXXIII, fig. 23,
image courtesy of Biodiversity Heritage Library, digitized by Smithsonian Libraries.