Thriponea nigrostrigata

Thriponea nigrostrigata Bethune-Baker, 1905)
(one synonym : Barasa orthosticha Turner, 1920)
SARROTHRIPINI, NOLIDAE, NOCTUOIDEA

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

Thriponea nigrostrigata
early instar
(Photo: courtesy of Dick Whitford, Julatten, Queensland)

The Caterpillar of this species initially is greenish-brown, with a swollen thorax covered in white dots.

later instar
(Photo: courtesy of Dick Whitford, Julatten, Queensland)

Later instars develop a pale yellow line along each side and across the back of the final segment, and the thorax becomes less swollen. The whole animal becomes covered in white spots. The caterpillars have been found feeding on

Limeberry (Micromelum minutum, RUTACEAE).

final instar
(Photo: courtesy of Dick Whitford, Julatten, Queensland)

Final instars have a regular size thorax. The caterpillars grow to a length of about 2 cms.

pupa in opened cocoon
(Photo: courtesy of Dick Whitford, Julatten, Queensland)

The pupa is brown with a length of about 1.5 cms. The caterpillar pupates in a cocoon formed in ground debris.

Thriponea nigrostrigata
(Photos: courtesy of Dick Whitford, Julatten, Queensland)

The adult moth has greenish-brown forewings, each with a pale wiggly subterminal line, and a triangular dark mark on the costa of each forewing.

(Photo: courtesy of CSIRO/BIO Photography Group, Centre for Biodiversity Genomics, University of Guelph, listed as Platyprosopa nigrostrigata)

The hindwings are pale brown, with dark veins. The wingspan is about 3.5 cms.

male, drawing by George Thomas Bethune-Baker, listed as Argyrothripa nigrostrigata,
Notes on a small collection of Heterocera from the Fiji Islands, with descriptions of some new species,
Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London, 1905, Part 1, Plate 8, fig. 4,
image courtesy of Biodiversity Heritage Library, digitized by Smithsonian Libraries.

The species has been found in south-east Asia and across the Pacific, including

Fiji (listed as Argyrothripa nigrostrigata),

Sumatra (listed as Platyprosopa nigrostrigata),

New Guinea (listed as Giaura nigrostrigata),

and also in Australia in

Queensland.

female, drawing by George Francis Hampson, listed as Checupa nigrostrigata,
Catalogue of Lepidoptera Phalćnć in the British Museum,
Noctuidć, Volume VII (1908), Plate CX, figure 21,
image courtesy of Biodiversity Heritage Library, digitized by Ernst Mayr Library, Harvard University.

underside
(Photo: courtesy of Dick Whitford, Julatten, Queensland)