| Plumed or Cherry Looper (one synonym : Phryssogonus pyretodes Meyrick, 1890) EUPITHECIINI, LARENTIINAE, GEOMETRIDAE, GEOMETROIDEA | (donherbisonevans@yahoo.com) and Stella Crossley |
early instar
(Photo: courtesy of Merlin Crossley, Melbourne, Victoria)
Early instars of this Caterpillar are green.
Later instars of this Caterpillar become yellow or pale brown, and develop dark markings like chevrons on the back and sides of each segment.
As the caterpillar nears maturity, the brown areas expand until the caterpillar is dark brown with pale brown or green markings.
The common name of these caterpillars comes from their habit of feeding on flowers and young fruit of
They have also been found feeding on the flowers and buds of :
They remain well hidden by wrapping themselves around the flowers.
The pupa is formed in a shelter formed in amongst the flowers.
The adults vary from green to brown or grey, with a scalloped banded pattern. The green specimens fade to grey after death. The forewings of the males have a row of pinkish hairs and a bulge on thecosta.
The females have flat wings with no tufts. Both males and females have thread-like antennae.
In their resting position, the moths have their wings outspread, which makes them difficult to see when resting on the bark of a tree. The moths have a wingspan of about 3 cms. The undersides are plain.
The species is found in
Further reading :
Ian F.B. Common,
Moths of Australia,
Melbourne University Press, 1990, fig. 54.2, pp. 67, 377.
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. 106-107.
Peter Marriott,
Moths of Victoria: Part 3,
Waves & Carpets - GEOMETROIDEA (C),
Entomological Society of Victoria, 2011, pp. 12-13, 30-31.
Edward Meyrick,
Revision of Australian Lepidoptera IV,
Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales,
Volume 15 (Series 2, Volume 5), Part 4 (1890), p. 799.
Francis Walker,
Characters of undescribed Lepidoptera Heterocera,
E.W. Janson, London, 1869, p. 79, No. 34.
 caterpillar |  butterflies |  Lepidoptera |  moths |  caterpillar |
(updated 26 February 2013, 11 May 2023)