which contain pyrrolizidine alkaloids. These make it unpleasant to taste and poisonous to birds which would otherwise attack it.

(Specimen: courtesy of the Macleay Museum, University of Sydney)

The adult moth has black forewings each with a broad irregular diagonal white band and a small white spot near the base. The hindwings are white with broad black margins. The body has alternate black and yellow bands.

The moth is frequently seen flying during the day. The species is distributed across the south-west Pacific as several subspecies, including

and northern Australia (as the subspecies:drucei Swinhoe) in

Further reading :

Samuel Constantinus Snellen van Vollenhoven,
Bijdrage tot de kennis van het vlindergeslacht Leptosoma Boisd.
Tijdschrift voor Entomologie,
Volume 1 (1863), pp. 42-43, No. 8.

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(updated 27 April 2008, 16 September 2024)