Condica illecta (Walker, 1865)
(one synonym : Hadena spargens Walker, 1865)
ACRONICTINAE,   NOCTUIDAE,   NOCTUOIDEA
  
Don Herbison-Evans
(donherbisonevans@yahoo.com)
and
Stella Crossley

Condica illecta
(Photo: Don Herbison-Evans, Bundaberg, Queensland)

These young caterpillars are smooth-skinned and green in early instars, with a brown head.

Condica illecta
(Photo: Don Herbison-Evans, Bundaberg, Queensland)

Later instars develop a purple herring-bone pattern with a black head. Later still, they turn brown with a thin wavy white line along each side, and white spots.

Condica illecta
(Photo: Don Herbison-Evans, Bundaberg, Queensland)

Specimens have been found feeding on the leaves of various plants in ASTERACEAE including :

  • Blue Billy Goat Weed ( Ageratum houstonianum ),
  • Cobblers Pegs ( Bidens pilosa ), and
  • Marigolds ( Calendula officinalis ).

    The caterpillars grow to a length of about 4 cms.

    Condica illecta
    (Photo: Don Herbison-Evans, Bundaberg, Queensland)

    The caterpillars burrow into the soil to pupate, producing a pretty green and brown banded chrysalis.


    (Photo: Don Herbison-Evans, Bundaberg, Queensland)

    The chrysalis produces this really boring moth: it is brown with an indistinct complex pattern on its wings. It has a wingspan of about 4 cms.

    Condica illecta
    (Photo: courtesy of Peter T. Oboyski, Esseg Museum of Entomology, University of California, Berkeley)

    The species occurs throughout south-east Asia and the south Pacific, including :

  • Borneo,
  • Hawaii,
  • Hong Kong,
  • India,
  • Sumatra,
  • Taiwan,

    as well as in Australia in

  • Northern Territory,
  • Queensland, and
  • New South Wales.


    Further reading :

    Francis Walker,
    Catalogue of Lepidoptera Heterocera,
    List of the Specimens of Lepidopterous Insects in the Collection of the British Museum,
    Part 32, Supplement 2 (1865), p. 684.
    and also
    Part 33, Supplement 3 (1865), pp. 739-740.


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    (updated 11 April 2013, 28 August 2031)