Acontia detrita Butler, 1886 Marbled Shoulder (one synonym : Tarache pallidula Warren, 1913) BOLETOBIINAE,   EREBIDAE,   NOCTUOIDEA

Don Herbison-Evans (donherbisonevans@yahoo.com) and Stella Crossley

male
(Photo: courtesy of Simon Ong, Durack, Western Australia)

The adult moths of this species are dimorphic.

female
(Photo: courtesy of Trevor Jinks, North Burnett, Queensland)

The male has off-white forewings each with a broad brown margin containing a complex pattern.

male, drawing by George Francis Hampson, listed as Tarache detrita,
Catalogue of Lepidoptera Phalænæ in the British Museum,
Noctuidæ, Volume X (1910), Plate CLXXII, fig. 19,
image courtesy of Biodiversity Heritage Library, digitized by Ernst Mayr Library, Harvard University.

The female has brown forewings crossed by an irregular off-white band and with other off-white markings. The hindwings of both sexes are brown, fading somewhat toward the bases. The moths have a wingspan of about 2 cms.

female, drawing by George Francis Hampson, listed as Tarache detrita,
Catalogue of Lepidoptera Phalænæ in the British Museum,
Noctuidæ, Volume X (1910), Plate CLXXII, fig. 20,
image courtesy of Biodiversity Heritage Library, digitized by Ernst Mayr Library, Harvard University.

The species is found in Australia in

Victoria.

male
(Photo: courtesy of Ian McMillan, Imbil, Queensland)

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Further reading :

Arthur G. Butler,
Descriptions of 21 new genera and 103 new species of Lepidoptera Heterocera from the Australian region,
Transactions of the Entomological Society of London,
1886, Part 4, p. 401, No. 32.

Peter Marriott,
Moths of Victoria - Part 8,
Night Moths and Allies - NOCTUOIDEA(B),
Entomological Society of Victoria, 2017, pp. 28-29.

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(updated 9 August 2011, 24 May 2023)