The caterpillars pupate in the soil inside a silk cocoon. The adult moths emerge typically after rain in mid-winter.

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

Whilst most species of Pterocera have female adults with vestigial wings, this species is unusual in having fully winged females that can fly, just like the males. The wings are pale brown marked only by darker veins. The wingspan is about 5 cms.

The species occurs in the south of

Further reading :

Ian F.B. Common,
Moths of Australia,
Melbourne University Press, 1990, p. 396.

Jean McGauran,
The Life History of the Brown-tail Moth, Pterolocera isogama,
The Western Australian Naturalist,
Volume 3, No 2, (Sept. 14, 1951).

A. Jefferis Turner,
Revision of Australian Lepidoptera. Supplementary,
Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales,
Volume 56 (1931), p. 328.

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(updated 21 August 2004, 13 July 2023)