Gastrina cristaria Guenée, 1857
Wave-lined Geometrid
(one synonym : Passa latifasciata Walker, 1866)
DIPTYCHINI,   ENNOMINAE,   GEOMETRIDAE,   GEOMETROIDEA
 
Don Herbison-Evans
(donherbisonevans@yahoo.com)
and
Stella Crossley

Gastrina cristaria
early instar
(Photo: Elaine McDonald, Nicholls Rivulet, Tasmania)

The Caterpillar is green and smooth, with a yellowish head, and a dark line running from over the head to the tail. It is a true looper, with only one pair of ventral prolegs.

Gastrina cristaria
later instar
(Photo: Elaine McDonald, Nicholls Rivulet, Tasmania)

Later instars have a green head, and develop pale lines along the body, and narrow pale rings between segments, but still have the dark line over the head and along the back.

Gastrina cristaria
even later instar
(Photo: Elaine McDonald, Nicholls Rivulet, Tasmania)

Even later instars develop pale yellow lines along the back, but still have the dark line over the head.

Gastrina cristaria
final instar
(Photo: Elaine McDonald, Nicholls Rivulet, Tasmania)

The final instar grows to a length of about 2.5 cms. It pupates under the soil.

Gastrina cristaria
(Photo courtesy of Michael Bedingfield, Conder, Australian Capital Territory)

The adult moth has fawn wings with wavy patterns on them. In normal resting position: the wings are laid out flat, and the forewings cover the hindwings.

Gastrina cristaria
male
(Photo: courtesy of Ian Baird, O'Connor, Australian Capital Territory)

The males and female moths are similar except that the males have feathery antennae, and the females have thread-like antennae.

Gastrina cristaria
female
(Photo: courtesy of Ian Baird, O'Connor, Australian Capital Territory)

The wingspan is about 4 cms.

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

The species is found over the south-eastern quarter of Australia, including:

  • Queensland,
  • New South Wales,
  • Australian Capital Territory,
  • Victoria,
  • Tasmania, and
  • South Australia.

    Gastrina cristaria
    (Photo: Don Herbison-Evans, Manly, New South Wales)

    The eggs are white and oval. They are laid in clusters or strings of half a dozen or so, on leaves of a food plant.

    Gastrina cristaria
    male, drawing by Achille Guenée, Uranides et Phalénites,

    Histoire naturelle des insectes; spécies général des lépidoptères,
    Volume 9, Part 9 (1857), Plate 5, fig. 4,
    image courtesy of Biodiversity Heritage Library, digitized by Smithsonian Libraries.

    Gastrina cristaria
    male underside
    (Photo: courtesy of John Bromilow, Ainslie, Australian Capital Territory)


    Further reading :

    Ian F.B. Common,
    Moths of Australia,
    Melbourne University Press, 1990, fig. 34.15, p. 365.

    Achille Guenée,
    Uranides et Phalénites,
    in Boisduval & Guenée:
    Histoire naturelle des insectes; spécies général des lépidoptères,
    Volume 9, Part 9 (1857), p. 224, No. 335, and also Plate 5, fig. 4.

    Marilyn Hewish,
    Moths of Victoria: Part 5 - Satin Moths and Allies - GEOMETROIDEA (A),
    Entomological Society of Victoria, 2014, pp. 6-7, 16-17.

    Catherine J. Young,
    Characterisation of the Australian Nacophorini and a Phylogeny for the Geometridae from Molecular and Morphological Data,
    Ph.D. thesis, University of Tasmania, 2003.


    previous
    back
    caterpillar
    Australian
    Australian Butterflies
    butterflies
    Australian
    home
    Lepidoptera
    Australian
    Australian Moths
    moths
    next
    next
    caterpillar

    (updated 20 July 2010, 16 September 2013, 16 January 2016, 9 October 2018, 20 October 2020, 11 October 2021)