Beautiful Leaf Moth or Fallen-bark Looper
(erroneously : Gatrophora henricaria)
OENOCHROMINAE , GEOMETRIDAE , GEOMETROIDEA
(Photo: courtesy of Ian McMillan, Imbil, Queensland)
The Caterpillars of this species are large and brown, with a pair of protuberances on abdominal segment three. The first two pairs of prolegs are vestigial, and there are dark triangular ventral marks under those segments. There is a pattern of fine dark lines in elongated distorted loops all over the body. The caterpillars feed on the foliage of various species in MYRTACEAE, including :
The adult moths have fawn forewings, with a dark brown line across each one, and each has a dark brown dot near the base of the inner margin. The hindwings are orange, with a submarginal arc of dark brown dots, a dark brown patch at the base, a dark brown line across each wing. The females have a wingspan of about 8 cms. The males are smaller, with a wingspan of about 6 cms.
Underneath, each forewing is yellow with a purple blotch, and is each hindwing is pale brown with some darker markings.
The species is found over much of the south-eastern quarter of Australia, including
Further reading :
Ian F.B. Common,
Moths of Australia, Melbourne University Press, 1990, pls. 10.2, 26.12, p. 368.
in Boisduval & Guenée: Uranides et Phalénites,
Histoire naturelle des insectes; spécies général des lépidoptères,
Volume 9, Part 9 (1857), p. 187, No. 290, and also Plate 21, fig. 4.
Moths of Victoria: Part 4,
Emeralds and Allies - GEOMETROIDEA (B),
Entomological Society of Victoria, 2013, pp. 12-13.
(updated 20 June 2013, 22 January 2016)