Psalis pennatula

Psalis pennatula (Fabricius, 1793)
(one synonym is Psalis securis Hübner, 1823)
LYMANTRIINAE, EREBIDAE, NOCTUOIDEA

Don Herbison-Evans
(donherbisonevans@yahoo.com)
and
Stella Crossley

(Photo: courtesy of National Bureau of Agricultural Insect Resources, India)

This Caterpillar is hairy with a wide black line along the back, bordered by yellow patches on each segment, each patch having a red line through it. There are two red glands on the back of the penultimate two abdominal segments. There are two black hair pencils on the prothorax, four brown tufts on the first four abdominal segments behind the head, and a wide black tuft of hairs sticking up on the tail.

The caterpillars has been found feeding on various plants in the plant family POACEAE such as

Rice, ( Oryza sativa ),

Sorghum, ( Sorghum bicolor ),

Sugarcane, ( Saccharum officinarum ),

Cogon Grass ( Imperata cylindrica ),

as well as plants in other families such as

Tea ( Camellia sinensis, THEACEAE ), and

Teak ( Tectona grandis, LAMIACEAE ).

male
(Photo: courtesy of Dick Whitford, Mount Molloy, Queensland),

The adult moth has forewings in two shades of brown divided by a line from base to wingtip: the anterior section pale brown, and the posterior section darker brown. The hindwings are off-white. The wingspan is about 4 cms.

male
(Photo: courtesy of the Photography Group, Centre for Biodiversity Genomics, University of Guelph)

female, drawing by Jacob Hübner, listed as Psalis securis,
Neuer oder rarer nichteuropäischer Gattungen,
Zuträge zur Sammlung exotischer Schmettlinge, Volume 2 (1823), Plate 51, fig. 291,
image courtesy of Biodiversity Heritage Library, digitized by Smithsonian Libraries.

This species occurs in Asia, for example in

India,

Java,

as well as in Australia in

Queensland.

underside, female, drawing by Jacob Hübner, listed as Psalis securis,
Neuer oder rarer nichteuropäischer Gattungen,
Zuträge zur Sammlung exotischer Schmettlinge, Volume 2 (1823), Plate 51, fig. 292,
image courtesy of Biodiversity Heritage Library, digitized by Smithsonian Libraries.