The caterpillars appear to feed for 2 to 3 years, boring downwards less than a metre above ground level, to create a borehole with a depth of about 60 cms. The caterpillars pupate in their borehole.

male
(Photo: courtesy of Ethan Beaver, Tasmania)

The male adult moth has green forewings, each with white diagonal bars. The hindwings are white.

female
(Photo: courtesy of Ethan Beaver, Tasmania)

The female adult moths differ from the male moths. The females have green forewings with rusty-brown markings. The hindwings are brown, fading towards the bases.
The moths have a natural posture of hanging vertically, sometimes with the head bent down and the tail bent out.

The species occurs in

Further reading :

Ethan Beaver,
A new species of Aenetus Herrich-Schaffer Lepidoptera Hepialidae from Tasmania with notes on the splenden group of species in South Australia,
Australian Entomologist,
Volume 46, Part 3 (September 2019), pp. 125-138.

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.

previous caterpillar

Australian butterflies

Australian Lepidoptera

Australian moths

next caterpillar

(written 28 October 2019)