Thallogama nigraria

Thallogama nigraria (R. Felder & Rogenhofer, 1875)
Black Bark Moth
(one synonym : Boarmia phaeopasta Turner, 1947)
BOARMIINI, ENNOMINAE, GEOMETRIDAE, GEOMETROIDEA

Don Herbison-Evans
(donherbisonevans@yahoo.com)
and
Stella Crossley

Thallogama nigraria
(Photo: courtesy of Marilyn Hewish, Moths of Victoria: Part 7)

These Caterpillars are brown with varying dark markings. The caterpillars have reduced prolegs, so they walk in a looper fashion. They rest typically holding onto a twig with their hind legs, looking like another twig.

(Photo: courtesy of Marilyn Hewish, Moths of Victoria: Part 7)

The caterpillars have been found feeding on

Tea Tree ( Leptospermum species, MYRTACEAE ).

female
(Photo: courtesy of Marilyn Hewish, Moths of Victoria: Part 7)

The adult moths of this species are grey-brown with complex dense dark markings. The wings have scalloped margins. The wingspan is about 2.5 cms.

male
(Photo: courtesy of CSIRO/BIO Photography Group, Centre for Biodiversity Genomics, University of Guelph)

The species has been found in Australia in

New South Wales, and

Victoria.

female, drawing by Rudolf Felder & Alois F. Rogenhofer, listed as Boarmia nigraria,
Reise der Osterreichischen Fregatte Novara,
Band 2, Abtheilung 2 (1875), Plate CXXVI, fig. 1,
Image courtesy of Biodiversity Heritage Library, digitized by Smithsonian Libraries.

Further reading :

Rudolf Felder & Alois F. Rogenhofer,
Reise der Osterreichischen Fregatte Novara,
Band 2, Abtheilung 2 (1875), p. 4, and also Plate 126, fig. 1.

Marilyn Hewish,
Moths of Victoria: Part 7,
Bark Moths and Allies - GEOMETROIDEA (D),
Entomological Society of Victoria, 2016, pp. 22-23.

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(written 5 August 2017, updated 27 July 2018)