(previously known as Stericta marmorea) EPIPASCHIINAE, PYRALIDAE, PYRALOIDEA | (donherbisonevans@yahoo.com) and Stella Crossley |
(Photo: courtesy of
Peter Marriott, Melbourne, Victoria)
These caterpillars have been found feeding on a variety of MYRTACEAE, including:
The caterpillars live communally in shelters of leaves, silk webbing and frass. In Melbourne: the larval stage is from December to January and the adult moths emerge in February.
The adult moths of this species are brown with what appears to be the outline of a map of Africa on the left forewing (and the mirror image pattern on the right forewing). The wingspan is about 4 cms.
The species is found in
Further reading :
William Warren,
Descriptions of new genera and species of Pyralidae contained in the British Museum Collection,
Annals and Magazine of Natural History,
6th Series, Volume 7 (1891), pp. 432-433.
caterpillar | butterflies | Lepidoptera | moths | caterpillar |
(updated 10 February 2009, 29 April 2024)