Sandava scitisignata Walker, 1862
Fungi Snout
 (one synonym : Istarba varialis Walker, 1866)
HYPENINAE,   EREBIDAE,   NOCTUOIDEA
 
Don Herbison-Evans
(donherbisonevans@yahoo.com)
and
Peter Marriott & Stella Crossley

These Caterpillars have been found under loose bark on tree trunks, and appear to eat :

  • fungi on dead trees.

    Sandava scitisignata
    (Photo: courtesy of the Macleay Museum, University of Sydney)

    The adult moths have pale brown wings with a dark speckly pattern. They have a wingspan of about 2 cms. Male and female moths are similar, but the antennae of the males are thicker than those of the females.

    The species is found widely in Australia, including:

  • Queensland,
  • New South Wales,
  • Australian Capital Territory,
  • Victoria, where we have found them at Bentleigh, Kallista, Stratford, Bairnsdale, Anglesea and Mt. Martha, from September through to April,
  • Tasmania,
  • South Australia, and
  • Western Australia.

    Sandava scitisignata
    showing underside
    (Photo: courtesy of Katarina Christenson, Goorooyarroo, Australian Capital Territory)

    Further reading :

    Ian F.B. Common,
    Moths of Australia,
    Melbourne University Press, 1990, fig. 44.15, p. 450.

    Peter Marriott,
    Moths of Victoria - Part 8,
    Night Moths and Allies - NOCTUOIDEA(B)    ,
    Entomological Society of Victoria, 2017, pp. 7, 8-9.

    Francis Walker,
    Catalogue of Lepidoptera Heterocera,
    List of the Specimens of Lepidopterous Insects in the Collection of the British Museum,
    Part 25 (1862), p. 1423, No. 97.

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    (updated 17 April 2013, 8 November 2020)