Lyssa macleayi (Montrouzier, 1856)
 (one synonym : Nyctalemon patroclus Rothschild, 1915)
URANIINAE,   URANIIDAE,   GEOMETROIDEA
 
Don Herbison-Evans
(donherbisonevans@yahoo.com)
and
Stella Crossley


(Photo: courtesy of Neil Hewett, Cooper Creek Wilderness, Queensland)

This species was probably named in 1856 after William Macleay, a great international entomologist like his father: Alexander Macleay. He added his collection to his father's in founding the Macleay Museum at the University of Sydney.

The Caterpillars of this species feed on :

  • Whitewood ( Endospermum medullosum, EUPHORBIACEAE ).


    (Photo: courtesy of CSIRO/BIO Photography Group, Centre for Biodiversity Genomics, University of Guelph)

    The adult moths are dark brown with a diagonal white stripe across each wing., They have a wingspan of about 13 cms.


    underside
    (Photo: courtesy of Eric van Schayck and the Photography Group, Centre for Biodiversity Genomics, University of Guelph)

    Various similar species in the Lyssa genus occur throughout south-east Asia, but Lyssa macleayi, only occurs in Australia in:

  • Queensland.

    Further reading :

    Ian F.B. Common,
    Moths of Australia,
    Melbourne University Press, 1990, fig. 38.9, p. 384.

    Jean Xavier Hyacinthe Montrouzier,
    Essai sur la faune de l'île de Woodlark ou Mouio,
    Annales de la Société d'Agriculture de Lyon
    Series 2, Tome 8 (1856), pp. 410-411.

    Buck Richardson,
    Tropical Queensland Wildlife from Dusk to Dawn Science and Art,
    LeapFrogOz, Kuranda, 2015, p. 216.

    Paul Zborowski and Ted Edwards,
    A Guide to Australian Moths,
    CSIRO Publishing, 2007, p. 150.

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    (updated 2 June 2012, 25 January 2020)