female
(Photo: courtesy of Buck Richardson, Kuranda, Queensland)

The adult moths of this species have brown or black and grey speckled forewings, each with a large dark area on the costa near the base. The hindwings are yellow with a dark spot and a grey wingtip.

male
(Photo: courtesy of Ian McMillan, Imbil, Queensland)

The moths have a yellow abdomen with a black spot on the top of each segment. The moths have a wingspan of about 3 cms.

(Specimen: courtesy of the Macleay Museum, University of Sydney)

The species is found in the south-west Pacific as various subspecies, including

and also commonly over much of the northern two thirds of Australia, including

underside
(Photo: courtesy of Aila Keto, Springbrook, Queensland)

Further reading :

Arthur G. Butler,
On the Lepidoptera of the family Lithosiidae, in the Collection of the British Museum,
Transactions of the Entomological Society of London,
1877, pp. 363-364.

Ian F.B. Common,
Moths of Australia,
Melbourne University Press, 1990, fig. 3.3, pls. 19.19, 31.12, p. 442.

Wesley Jenkinson,
Moths photographed at Obum Obum,
Butterflies and Other Invertebrates Club,
Metamorphosis Australia<,
Issue 73 (June 2014), p. 31.

Peter Marriott,
Moths of Victoria - Part 8,
Night Moths and Allies - NOCTUOIDEA(B),
Entomological Society of Victoria, 2017, p. 5.

Buck Richardson,
Mothology,
LeapFrogOz, Kuranda, 2008, p. 12.

Paul Zborowski and Ted Edwards,
A Guide to Australian Moths,
CSIRO Publishing, 2007, pl. 19.19, p. 184.

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(updated 29 April 2013, 5 July 2024)