but is suspected of feeding only on the

on the trunks and branches. The caterpillar is quite small, growing to length of about 1.5 cms. It is basically black with yellow spots. It has sparse long grey hairs, and on each side, it has four tufts of long dense black hair projecting from verrucae on the meso and meta thorax.

It pupates in a thin cocoon of felted hairs, attached to a wall or tree trunk.

(Photo: Don Herbison-Evans, Sydney, New South Wales)

The moth emerges after about a fortnight in summer or several months across winter. It is small, slim bodied, and black, with five yellow spots on each forewing, and a large yellow patch on each hindwing, It has a wingspan of about 1.5 cms.

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

The species occurs over non-tropical eastern Australia, including:

underside
(Photo: courtesy of Thurstan, Australian National Botanical Gardens, Australian Capital Territory)

The eggs are a translucent white and egg-shaped, with a diameter of about 0.5 mm. They are laid in small cluster on any convenient surface.

eggs, magnified
(Photo: courtesy of Thurstan, Australian National Botanical Gardens, Australian Capital Territory)

Further reading :

Ian F.B. Common,
Moths of Australia,
Melbourne University Press, 1990, pl. 18.11, p. 437.

Peter Marriott,
Moths of Victoria - Part 2,
Tiger Moths and Allies - NOCTUOIDEA (A),
Entomological Society of Victoria, 2009, pp. 20-23.

Francis Walker,
Lepidoptera Heterocera,
List of the Specimens of Lepidopterous Insects in the Collection of the British Museum,
Part 2 (1854), p. 484, No. 1.

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(updated 29 June 2010, 30 August 2024)