Cycloprorodes melanoxysta (Meyrick, 1892)
Black-edged Geometrid
(formerly known as Chlenias melanoxysta)
DIPTYCHINI,   ENNOMINAE,   GEOMETRIDAE,   GEOMETROIDEA
 
Don Herbison-Evans
(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.


(Photo: copyright Cathy Byrne)

The caterpillars have been found feeding on

  • Sticky Hopbush ( Dodonaea viscosa, SAPINDACEAE ),

    but have been reared more successfully on

  • Golden Wattle ( Acacia pycnantha, MIMOSACEAE ).


    (Photo: courtesy of Steve Williams, Moths of Victoria: Part 5)

    The pupa is formed naked, initially dark brown. Later it matures to a reddish brown.


    (Photo: copyright Cathy Byrne)

    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.


    (Photo: courtesy of Marilyn Hewish, Moths of Victoria: Part 5)

    The oval eggs are laid in loose clumps, and are initially white, turning purple as hatching approaches.


    eggs, magnified
    (Photo: copyright Cathy Byrne)

    The species has been found in

  • New South Wales,
  • Victoria,
  • Tasmania,
  • South Australia, and
  • Western Australia.


    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.


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    (updated 17 March 2005, 25 April 2013, 2 January 2016, 28 February 2021)