Munychryia senicula Walker, 1865
Grey Anthelid
 (one synonym : Hypochroma nyssiata R.Felder & Rogenhofer, 1875)
MUNYCHRYIINAE,   ANTHELIDAE,   BOMBYCOIDEA
 
Don Herbison-Evans
(donherbisonevans@yahoo.com)
and
Stella Crossley

Munychryia senicula
(Photo: Don Herbison-Evans, Concord, New South Wales)

These caterpillars are smooth and and green, with a number of pale longitudinal lines and brown spots.

Munychryia senicula
drawing by E. Anderson, unpublished manuscript in Melbourne Museum,
courtesy of Peter Marriott, Moths of Victoria - Part 1

The caterpillars feed on:

  • She Oaks ( Casuarina, CASUARINACEAE ).

    The caterpillars have the same colours and segmented structure as the stems of their foodplant, so are very well camouflaged. They are very similar to the caterpillars of Munychryia periclyta and Boarmia suasaria which feed on the same foodplant, and so are similarly camouflaged.

    Munychryia senicula
    male
    Photo: courtesy of Buck Richardson, from
    Tropical Queensland Wildlife from Dusk to Dawn Science and Art

    The adult moths are grey, with a complex pattern of darker scalloped lines on the forewings. The hindwings are a uniform grey-brown, sometimes fading to white at the base.

    Munychryia senicula
    female
    (Photo: courtesy of Graeme Cocks, Townsville, Queensland)

    The moths have a haustellum, unlike members of the ANTHELINAE which have none. The wingspan is about 3 cms.

    Munychryia senicula
    male, drawing by Felder & Rogenhofer, listed as Hypochroma nyssiata    ,
    Reise der Osterreichischen Fregatte Novara,
    Band 2, Abtheilung 2 (5) (1875), Plate CXXV, figure 3,
    image courtesy of Biodiversity Heritage Library, digitized by Smithsonian Libraries.

    The species occurs over eastern Australia, including

  • Queensland,
  • New South Wales,
  • Victoria,
  • Tasmania, and
  • South Australia.

    Munychryia senicula
    drawing by E. Anderson, unpublished manuscript in Melbourne Museum,
    courtesy of Peter Marriott, Moths of Victoria - Part 1

    Further reading :

    Ian F.B. Common,
    Moths of Australia,
    Melbourne University Press, 1990, figs. 39.14, 54.4, p. 394.

    Rudolf Felder & Alois F. Rogenhofer,
    Zoologischer Theil: Lepidoptera,
    Reise der Osterreichischen Fregatte Novara,
    Band 2, Abtheilung 2 (5) (1875), p. 12, and also Plate 125, figure 3.

    Peter Hendry,
    The Anthelidae,
    Metamorphosis Australia,
    Issue 50 (September 2008), pp. 27-31,
    Butterflies and Other Invertebrates Club.

    Peter Hendry,
    Correction,
    Metamorphosis Australia,
    Issue 51 (December 2008), p. 29,
    Butterfly and Other Invertebrates Club Inc..

    Peter Marriott,
    Moths of Victoria - Part 1,
    Silk Moths and Allies - BOMBYCOIDEA    ,
    Entomological Society of Victoria, 2008, pp. 16-19.

    Buck Richardson,
    Tropical Queensland Wildlife from Dusk to Dawn Science and Art,
    LeapFrogOz, Kuranda, 2015, p. 11.

    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. 396.

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    (updated 2 December 2010, 13 July 2023)