Proteuxoa paragypsa (Lower, 1902)
Western Noctuid
 (previously known as Caradrina paragypsa)
ACRONICTINAE,   NOCTUIDAE,   NOCTUOIDEA
 
Don Herbison-Evans
(donherbisonevans@yahoo.com)
and
Stella Crossley

Proteuxoa paragypsa
(Photo: courtesy of Donald Hobern, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory)

The adult moth of this species has basically grey forewings, each with a large dark triangle which contains a pale dot, and is bisected by a pale arc with a central dark line.

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

The hindwings are off-white, darkening toward the wing-tips. The thorax has two dark streaks. The wingspan is about 3.5 cms.

Proteuxoa paragypsa
underside
(Photo: courtesy of John Bromilow, Ainslie, Australian Capital Territory)

The species has been found in:

  • New South Wales,
  • Australian Capital Territory,
  • Victoria,
  • Tasmania, and
  • South Australia.

    Proteuxoa paragypsa
    female, drawing by George Francis Hampson, listed as Ariathisa paragypsa,
    Catalogue of Lepidoptera Phalænæ in the British Museum,
    Noctuidæ, Volume VIII (1909), Plate CXXXI, figure 29,
    image courtesy of Biodiversity Heritage Library, digitized by Ernst Mayr Library, Harvard University.

    The moths are easily confused with Proteuxoa chrysospila, but Proteuxoa chrysospila has a blunt, solid and undivided forewing reniform mark (i.e not divided into two lobes). Proteuxoa paragypsa also has pronounced dark tegulae forming a definite "T" shape from above.

    Further reading :

    George Francis Hampson,
    Catalogue of Noctuidae in the British Museum,
    Catalogue of Lepidoptera Phalaenae in the British Museum,
    Volume 8 (1909), p. 392, No. 4055, and also Plate 131, fig. 29.

    Oswald B. Lower,
    Descriptions of New Australian Lepidoptera,
    Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales,
    Volume 26 (1901), p. 650. <

    Peter Marriott & Marilyn Hewish,
    Moths of Victoria - Part 9,
    Cutworms and Allies - NOCTUOIDEA (C)    ,
    Entomological Society of Victoria, 2020, pp. 16-17.

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    (updated 12 April 2013, 22 August 2019, 22 December 2020, 23 April 2022)