| Gypsum Carpet (previously known as Hydriomena gypsomela) XANTHORHOINI, LARENTIINAE, GEOMETRIDAE, GEOMETROIDEA | (donherbisonevans@yahoo.com) and Stella Crossley |
(Photo: courtesy of Peter Marriott,
Moths of Victoria: Part 3)
|
| Gypsum Carpet (previously known as Hydriomena gypsomela) XANTHORHOINI, LARENTIINAE, GEOMETRIDAE, GEOMETROIDEA | (donherbisonevans@yahoo.com) and Stella Crossley |
(Photo: courtesy of Peter Marriott,
Moths of Victoria: Part 3)
The Caterpillars of this species are a mottled brown. They feed nocturnally, hiding on the ground under leaves by day. The caterpillars have been found feeding on variety of herbaceous plants including
Pupation occurs in a flimsy cocoon among the leaf litter.
The adult moths have dark brown wings with two variable broad pale zigzag bands across each forewing. The hindwings are paler with a vestigial pattern. The males and females are similar to each other. The resting posture of the moth has the wings flat, and the forewings covering the hindwings. The moths have a wingspan of about 2.5 cms.
The oval eggs are initially off-white, turning green as they near hatching. They are laid singly near a foodplant.
The species has been found in
The name of this moth may be a junior synonym of Chrysolarentia argodesma Meyrick, 1891 which looks superficially very similar.
Further reading:
Oswald B. Lower,
Descriptions of New South Australian Lepidoptera,
Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia,
Volume 15 (1892), p. 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), p. 112.
Peter Marriott,
Moths of Victoria: Part 3,
Waves & Carpets - GEOMETROIDEA (C),
Entomological Society of Victoria, 2011, pp. 16-17.
 caterpillar |  butterflies |  Lepidoptera |  moths |  caterpillar |
(written 3 March 2013, updated 30 April 2018, 13 October 2019, 31 March 2021)