Pollanisus calliceros Turner, 1926 PROCRIDINAE,   ZYGAENIDAE,   ZYGAENOIDEA

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

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

The adult male moth of this species has black wings, with the forewings having a green iridescence. The head is shiny green with a black collar. The thorax and abdomen are shiny green. The antennae are very pectinated. The wingspan of the male is about 1.8 cms.

The female is black with a green iridescence, has vestigial wings, and is flightless. The female has thread-like antennae, and a wide sheaf of hairs on the tip of the abdomen.

Two subspecies have been recognised:

azurea Tarmann 2005, has been found in the uplands of northern and central New South Wales.

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Further Reading:

Gerhard M. Tarmann,
Zygaenid moths of Australia,
CSIRO Publishing 2004, pp. 13-14, 32, 47, 59, 65, 106-107, 116, 125, pls. 31, 32.

A. Jefferis Turner,
New and little-known Tasmanian Lepidoptera.,
courtesy of the
Library Open Repository, University of Tasmania Library,
Papers and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Tasmania,
1925, pp. 115-116.

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(written 16 December 2018, updated 7 February 2024)