Dodonaea Moth (one synonym : Aspilates dissutata Walker, 1862) MACARIINI, ENNOMINAE, GEOMETRIDAE, GEOMETROIDEA | (donherbisonevans@yahoo.com) and Cathy Byrne & Stella Crossley |
(Photo: copyright
Catherine J. Young)
These Caterpillars are loopers, having most prolegs missing. Initially the caterpillars are grey with a brown head.
Later they become brown with greenish sides. The caterpillars have been successfully reared on:
The pupa is dark brown with a length of about 2 cms.
The adult moths are a speckled fawn colour, with some individuals having one or two dark-edged pale curvy lines, or some having just dark spots on each forewing. The forewings have slightly hooked wingtips, and a slight bulge on the margin. The wingspan is about 2 cms.
The males are similar to the females, and just as variable. The antennae of the females are threadlike. The antennae of the males appear slightly thicker.
The eggs are oval and greenish, and covered in tiny pits.
The species occurs in :
Further reading-
Achille Guenée,
Uranides et Phalénites,
in Boisduval & Guenée:
Histoire naturelle des insectes; spécies général des lépidoptères,
Volume 9, Part 10 (1857), p. 129, No. 1127, and also
Plate 14, fig. 1.
Marilyn Hewish,
Moths of Victoria: Part 7,
Bark Moths and Allies - GEOMETROIDEA (D),
Entomological Society of Victoria, 2016, pp. 16-17.
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. 116.
caterpillar | butterflies | Lepidoptera | moths | caterpillar |
(updated 4 May 2011, 29 March 2018, 29 October 2020, 19 December 2021)