Ophiusa hituense

Ophiusa hituense (Pagenstecher, 1884)
(formerly known as Ophisma hituensis)
EREBINAE, EREBIDAE, NOCTUOIDEA

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

(Photo: courtesy of Graeme Cocks, Townsville, Queensland)

This caterpillar is brown with many fine darker lines along the body. The first two pairs of prolegs are reduced, so that it moves in a looper fashion. The caterpillar was found feeding on the vine :

Rangoon Creeper ( Quisqualis indica, COMBRETACEAE )

(Photo: courtesy of Graeme Cocks, Townsville, Queensland)

The adult moths of this species are reddish-brown, with two pale lines across each forewing, and a faint kidney shaped mark near the middle of each forewing. The hindwings are yellow, each with two dark patches. The abdomen is yellow. The wingspan is about 6 cms.

(Photo: courtesy of Graeme Cocks, Townsville, Queensland)

The species is found in

New Guinea

as well as in Australia in

Northern Territory, and

Queensland.

underside
(Photo: courtesy of Graeme Cocks, Townsville, Queensland)

The adult moths are a minor pest, piercing fruit to suck the juice.

male, drawing by George Francis Hampson, listed as Anua hituensis,
Catalogue of Lepidoptera Phalænæ in the British Museum,
Noctuidæ, Volume XII (1913), Plate CCXIV, figure 2,
image courtesy of Biodiversity Heritage Library, digitized by Ernst Mayr Library, Harvard University.

Further reading :

Buck Richardson,
Tropical Queensland Wildlife from Dusk to Dawn Science and Art,
LeapFrogOz, Kuranda, 2015, p. 146.

Arnold Pagenstecher,
Beiträge zur Lepidopteren-fauna von Amboina,
Jahrbuch des Nassauischen Vereins für Naturkunde,
Volume 37 (1884), p. 235, and also Plate 7, fig. 2.

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(updated 14 August 2012, 24 November2024)