Black-edged Geometrid (formerly known as Chlenias melanoxysta) DIPTYCHINI, ENNOMINAE, GEOMETRIDAE, GEOMETROIDEA | (donherbisonevans@yahoo.com) and Cathy Byrne & Stella Crossley |
(Photo: courtesy of Steve Williams,
Moths of Victoria: Part 5)
These Caterpillars vary from brown to black, with later instars having wavy creamy lines starting with the head all along the length of the body.
The caterpillars have been found feeding on
but have been reared more successfully on
The pupa is formed naked, initially dark brown. Later it matures to a reddish brown.
The adult moths of this species are brown with a variable spotty pattern of dark markings including a vague submarginal band, and a very dark line along the hind margin of each forewing. The hindwings are off-white shading to grey at the margins. The wingspan is about 3.5 cms.
The oval eggs are laid in loose clumps, and are initially white, turning purple as hatching approaches.
The species has been found in
Further reading :
Marilyn Hewish,
Moths of Victoria: Part 5 - Satin Moths and Allies - GEOMETROIDEA (A),
Entomological Society of Victoria, 2014, pp. 16-17.
Edward Meyrick,
Revision of Australian Lepidoptera. V,
Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales,
Series 2, Volume 6, Part 4 (1892), pp. 663-664, No. 99.
Cathy Byrne,
Characterisation of the Australian Nacophorini and a Phylogeny for the
Geometridae from Molecular and Morphological Data,
Ph.D. thesis, University of Tasmania, 2003.
caterpillar | butterflies | Lepidoptera | moths | caterpillar |
(updated 17 March 2005, 25 April 2013, 2 January 2016, 28 February 2021)