Dichromodes ainaria

Dichromodes ainaria (Guenée, [1858])
Common Heath Moth
(one synonym : Cidaria metaxanthata Walker, 1863)
OENOCHROMINAE, GEOMETRIDAE, GEOMETROIDEA

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

Dichromodes ainaria
(Photo: courtesy of Owen Holton, Tuggeranong Hill, Australian Capital Territory)

The adult moths of this species have forewings that are brown, with zig-zag markings bounding areas of different shades. The hindwings are yellow with broad brown margins.

male,
drawing by Achille Guenée, listed as Dichromodes ainaria,,
Deltoïdes et Pyralites, Histoire Naturelle des Insectes; Spécies Général des Lépidoptères,
Volume 9, Part 9 (1854), Plate 3, fig. 5,
image courtesy of Biodiversity Heritage Library, digitized by Smithsonian Libraries.

The females have threadlike antennae. The males have antennae with a feather-like fringe on one side. The wingspan is about 2 cms.

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

The species occurs in

New South Wales,

Australian Capital Territory,

Victoria,

Tasmania, and

South Australia.

underside
(Photo: courtesy of Paul Hadobas, Borough, New South Wales)

Further reading :

Achille Guenée,
Deltoïdes et Pyralites,
in Boisduval & Guenée: Histoire Naturelle des Insectes; Spécies Général des Lépidoptères,
Volume 9, Part 10 (1858), p. 321, No. 504, and also Plate 3, fig. 5.

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. 132.

Peter Marriott,
Moths of Victoria: Part 4,
Emeralds and Allies - GEOMETROIDEA (B),
Entomological Society of Victoria, 2012, pp. 14-15, 22-23.

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(written 28 April 2014, updated 23 January 2025)