Later instar caterpillars shelter in a folded leaf held closed with silk.

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

The adult moth is yellow with dark brown zig-zag lines across the wings. The wingspan is about 2 cms.

The eggs are laid sometimes in groups and sometimes single. They are laid on the upper surface of a foodplant leaf near the central vein. One female moth can lay up to 300 eggs over a few days.

underside (Photo: courtesy of Graeme Cocks, Townsville, Queensland)

The species is found over south-east Asia, including:

and in Australia in

Keeling Islands, 1982

Further reading :

Francis Walker,
Pyralides,
List of the Specimens of Lepidopterous Insects in the Collection of the British Museum,
Part 17 (1859), p. 374, No. 25.

previous caterpillar

Australian butterflies

Australian Lepidoptera

Australian moths

next caterpillar

(updated 16 March 2008, 29 January 2025)