(one synonym : Hectomanes noserodes Meyrick, 1890) Lesser Ghost Moth HEPIALIDAE, HEPIALOIDEA | (donherbisonevans@yahoo.com) and Stella Crossley |
The caterpillars of this species are a pest on pastures, favoring particularly :
. They live in vertical tunnels in the ground by day and come out at night to feed on leaves.
The adult moths are brown, sometimes spotted, often with a partial white streak, and a dark spot in the middle of each forewing. The scales on the wings are very loose, easily rubbing off. The male moths have a wingspan of about 2.5 cms. The females have a wingspan of about 3.5 cms.
The species is found over most of the southern half of Australia, including
Further reading :
Axel Kallies,
Moths of Victoria - Part 6,
Ghost Moths - HEPIALIDAE and Allies,
Entomological Society of Victoria, 2015, pp. 6-7, 10-11.
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), pp. 38-39.
Nielsen E.S. & Kristensen N.P.
Primitive Ghost Moths : Morphology and Taxonomy of the
Australian Genus Fraus Walker
(Lepidoptera: Hepialidae s. lat.)
Monographs on Australian Lepidoptera Volume 1,
CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne, 1989.
Francis Walker,
Catalogue of Lepidoptera Heterocera,
List of the Specimens of Lepidopterous Insects in the Collection of the British Museum,
Part 7 (1856), p. 1564, No. 1.
caterpillar | butterflies | Lepidoptera | moths | caterpillar |
(updated 15 July 2010, 16 December 2016, 30 April 2019, 27 September 2020)