| Senecio or Magpie or Cineraria Moth (formerly known as Agagles amicus) ARCTIINI, ARCTIINAE, EREBIDAE, NOCTUOIDEA | (donherbisonevans@yahoo.com) and Rob de Vos & Stella Crossley |
(Photo: copyright of Brett and Marie Smith at
Ellura Sanctuary, South Australia)
This caterpillar is hairy and dark blue with orange stripes. It has two prominent hair pencils on the head like a pair of hairy horns.
The caterpillar feeds on plants in ASTERACEAE, like:
These food plants contain Pyrrolizidine alkaloids. These make the caterpillar unpleasant to taste, and poisonous to birds which would otherwise attack it.
The pupa is formed in a loose cocoon amongst the twigs of the foodplant or in ground debris. The final shed skin of the caterpillar is attached to the end of the pupa.
The adult moth is black except for a broad fragmented white band across each forewing, and a large white patch on each hindwing. The body has alternate black and yellow bands.
The moths of both sexes have pectinated antennae, although the pectinations on the male antennae are more evident. The moths are frequently seen flying during the day.
The adult moths are superficially similar to that of Nyctemera secundiana, but can be distinguished by the shape of the fascia on the forewings, the colour of the white pattern, the shape of the white disc on the hindwings, and the black pattern on the abdomen. Furthermore N. amicus has wings with yellow fringes and a black background colour, while N. secundiana has colourless fringes and the ground colour of the wings is dark brown.
The species is found over most of Australia, including,
The parasitoids of this species have been studied by Prof. Tony Clarke while at the University of Tasmania.
Further reading :
Ian F.B. Common,
Moths of Australia,
Melbourne University Press, 1990, Fig. 43.17, p. 434.
David Carter,
Butterflies and Moths,
Collins Eyewitness Handbooks, Sydney 1992, p. 281.
Peter B. McQuillan, Jan A. Forrest, David Keane, & Roger Grund,
Caterpillars, moths, and their plants of Southern Australia,
Butterfly Conservation South Australia Inc., Adelaide (2019), p. 152.
Peter Marriott,
Moths of Victoria - Part 2,
Tiger Moths and Allies - NOCTUOIDEA (A),
Entomological Society of Victoria, 2009, pp. 28-29.
Adam White,
Appendix F (Insects),
in George Grey :
Journals of Two Expeditions of Discovery in North-West
and Western Australia, during the years 1837-39,
Volume 2 (1841), p. 482 (last page!).
 caterpillar |  butterflies |  Lepidoptera |  moths |  caterpillar |
(updated 12 November 12 2008, 28 January 2013, 26 December 2014, 15 March 2015, 11 June 2018, 30 May 2020)