| Underground Grassgrub (formerly known as Hepialus fasciculatus) HEPIALIDAE, HEPIALOIDEA | (donherbisonevans@yahoo.com) and Stella Crossley |
(Specimen: courtesy of the
Macleay Museum, University of Sydney)
|
| Underground Grassgrub (formerly known as Hepialus fasciculatus) HEPIALIDAE, HEPIALOIDEA | (donherbisonevans@yahoo.com) and Stella Crossley |
(Specimen: courtesy of the
Macleay Museum, University of Sydney)
These caterpillars live in vertical tunnels in the soil. They emerge at night to feed on various leaves. They are a pest at times in pastures.
The adult moths have brown forewings with a pattern of dark splotches. The hindwings are plain brown.
The males emerge from pupae before the females on suitable evenings and fly to and fro in straight lines apparently waiting for the females to emerge. The males then chase the females, and couples then settle to the ground to mate.
The eggs are laid while the female flutters in low foliage.
The species is found in :
Further reading :
Ian F.B. Common,
Moths of Australia,
Melbourne University Press, 1990, pp. 47, 145, 149.
Thomas J. Simonsen,
Splendid Ghost Moths and their Allies,
A Revision of Australian Abantiades, Oncopera, Aenetus, Archaeoaenetus and Zelotypia (Hepialidae),
Monographs on Australian Lepidoptera Volume 12,
CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne, 2018.
Francis Walker,
Characters of undescribed Lepidoptera Heterocera,
E.W. Janson, London, 1869, p. 68, No. 11.
 caterpillar |  butterflies |  Lepidoptera |  moths |  caterpillar |
(updated 2 February 2009, 11 April 2021)