(formerly known as Asteroscopus nodosus) DIPTYCHINI, ENNOMINAE, GEOMETRIDAE, GEOMETROIDEA | (donherbisonevans@yahoo.com) and Stella Crossley |
(Photo: courtesy of Robin Sharp, Korong Vale, Victoria)
The body of the Caterpillar of this species is coloured by four broad dark stripes separated by narrow yellow stripes, which meet dorsally and ventrally at a central narrow yellow stripe. Each broad stripe is black containing three irregular broken white lines. The ventral broad stripes include dark patches where the three pairs of atrophied prolegs would be located.
The head is pale brown with dark specks. The true legs are red and there is a red mark just above each penultimate proleg.
The caterpillar has been found feeding on:
The caterpillars grow to a length up to 4 cms.
The caterpillar pupates in the soil in a cocoon incorporating soil particles.
The adult moths of this species have grey forewings, each with a variable pattern usually including a submarginal set of dark longitudinal brown-edged dashes. The hindwings are pale brown darkening toward the edges. The wingspan is about 3 cms.
The species has been found in:
The adult moths of the various species in the genus Chlenias are all very variable, and appear to be more variable than the variations between the species. The identification of the specimens pictured here may prove to be wrong when more work is done on this genus.
Further Reading
Charles Swinhoe,
Sphinges and Bombyces,
Catalogue of Eastern and Australian Lepidoptera Heterocera
in the Collection of the Oxford University Museum,
Clarendon Press, Part 1 (1892), p. 299, No. 1384 and also
Plate 8, fig. 13.
caterpillar | butterflies | Lepidoptera | moths | caterpillar |
(written 14 August 2018, updated 4 June 2020, 28 February 2021, 21 June 2022)