| Batwing or White Stemmed Gum Moth ANTHELINAE, ANTHELIDAE, BOMBYCOIDEA | (donherbisonevans@yahoo.com) and Alan Tickner & Stella Crossley |
(Photo: courtesy of the
Macleay Museum, University of Sydney)
|
| Batwing or White Stemmed Gum Moth ANTHELINAE, ANTHELIDAE, BOMBYCOIDEA | (donherbisonevans@yahoo.com) and Alan Tickner & Stella Crossley |
(Photo: courtesy of the
Macleay Museum, University of Sydney)
This Caterpillar is a great hazard to people climbing Gum trees. Scattered over its skin are tufts of long stiff reddish hairs, which are strong enough to penetrate human skin. When they do, they are very painful, and difficult to remove because they are barbed and brittle. If one should lodge in the eye, it can cause serious sight problems.
The caterpillar is grey and black, with four of large pale yellow spots on each segment (two on the back, and one each side), each with a tuft of these dangerous hairs.
It feeds on the leaves of various trees in the family MYRTACEAE, such as :
It is also one of the largest caterpillars in Australia, growing in length to about 12 cms. Some trees where they may be found most years in Leichhardt are known by local school-children as 'sausage trees' because the caterpillars look from the ground like sausages growing in the trees.
When mature, the caterpillars often pupate on the trunk of the food tree, or else sometimes go walkabout to seek a nice crevice in a wall or some such place. They are so big that they are quite noticeable when they cross roads and paths. They pupate in a leathery double walled cocoon, which is covered by the same hazardous stiff hairs. The Caterpillar pushes these through the silk as the cocoon is constructed. The cocoons are usually well camouflaged, and may be up to 12 cms. long. They are a great hazard to children and others who climb gum trees.
The moths usually emerge in autumn (April, May), although we have had specimens stay as pupae for over 12 months. The moths are large and brown, with wavy bands of yellow and grey.
The males have a wingspan of about 14 cms. The males will often come to lights at night, but the females seldom do.
The male moth has a special defence posture when threatened: rearing up, extending its dark fore legs, and exposing the light underside of the wings. In this posture, it resembles a large spider about to strike.
The females are larger, reaching a wingspan of 16 cms. The moths are inclined to fly in the evening at tree-top level, and flap quite slowly. They are often mistaken for bats.
The eggs are brown, oval, and rough, each with a length of about 2mm. They are laid in untidy masses of 20 or so, on any arbitrary surface.
The species is found over much of south-eastern Australia, including:
Further reading :
David Carter,
Butterflies and Moths,
Collins Eyewitness Handbooks, Sydney 1992, p. 212.
Ian F.B. Common,
Moths of Australia,
Melbourne University Press, 1990, fig. 38.12, pp. 70, 394.
George Robert Gray,
Description of a new Species of Australian Moth,
Transactions of the Entomological Society of London,
Volume 1, Part 2 (1835), pp. 122-123..
Peter Hendry,
The Anthelidae,
Butterflies and Other Invertebrates Club,
Metamorphosis Australia,
Issue 50 (September 2008), pp. 27-31.
Peter Marriott,
Moths of Victoria - Part 1,
Silk Moths and Allies - BOMBYCOIDEA,
Entomological Society of Victoria, 2008, pp. 20-21.
Joe Turnbull, Densey Cyne,
You Asked (3rd letter),
Metamorphosis Australia,
Issue 69 (June 2013), pp. 41-42,
Butterflies and Other Invertebrates Club.
Paul Zborowski and Ted Edwards,
A Guide to Australian Moths,
CSIRO Publishing, 2007, pp. 156, 176.
 caterpillar |  butterflies |  Lepidoptera |  moths |  caterpillar |
(updated 6 December 2012, 7 July 2024)