THAUMETOPOEINAE, NOTODONTIDAE, NOCTUOIDEA | (donherbisonevans@yahoo.com) and Stella Crossley |
(Photo: courtesy of Dick Whitford, Mt Molloy, Queensland)
These caterpillars are black and very hairy, with a brown head. The caterpillars have a brown tuft on the back of each segment, and a white line along each side above the legs.
The caterpillars feed on the leaves of
The caterpillars feed communally in broad daylight.
The caterpillars pupate in pale dense silk cocoons under leaf litter underneath their food tree.
The forewings of thadult moths are white, each with a lot of brown speckles, a subterminal brown line, and a brown band along the margin containing a row of white spots, and chequered edges. The hindwings are brown, and also have a marginal row of white spots and chequered edges. The thorax is brown and very hairy. Tha abdomen is black, tipped with a bunch of golden hairs. The wingspan is about 3 cms.
The species is found in
Further reading
Buck Richardson,
Tropical Queensland Wildlife from Dusk to Dawn Science and Art,
LeapFrogOz, Kuranda, 2015, p. 178.
Embrik Strand,
Indo-Australian Bombyces and Sphinges,
in Adalbert Seitz (ed.):
The Macrolepidoptera of the World,
Stuttgart : Alfred Kernen Verlag, Part 10 (1929), p. 376.
caterpillar | butterflies | Lepidoptera | moths | caterpillar |
(updated 12 March 2010, 20 August 2018, 28 March 2019)