Don Herbison-Evans (
donherbisonevans@yahoo.com )
&
Stella Crossley
(updated 20 January 2010)
(Photo: courtesy of the
Macleay Museum, University of Sydney)
This Caterpillar wears a hat! The hat consists of the accumulated skins of previous moults. Separate skins are each marked by a ridge in the 'hat'.
After hatching, the Caterpillars feed gregariously, initially between the rows of eggs. As they grow they sit side by side, and just consume the surface of the leaf they are feeding on, leaving a skeleton of veins behind. Final instars are solitary.
The hairs on the caterpillars cause severe itchy spots on sensitive people.
The species is also an arbicultural pest on trees in the family MYRTACEAE, such as:
The Caterpillar appears yellow, although it is actually brown, but it has a double row of yellow spots along its back, and smaller yellow spots and lines along its sides. It is covered by very fine delicate long white setae. It lacks the first pair of ventral prolegs. It grows to a length of about 2 cms.
The Caterpillar spins a tough boat-shaped cocoon in which it pupates. It incorporates fragments of its surroundings into its cocoon, which assist with its strength and camouflage. Those pupating on a cement wall actually pried off bits of sand and cement, and covered their cocoons with them.
After about a month, the grey adult moth emerges It has a filigree pattern of dark lines on the forewings. The wingspan is about 3 cms. The males and females are similar.
The eggs are laid in neat rows on a leaf of a foodplant.
The species occurs in:
The species has a
number of parasitoids which may be helpful in controlling
the pest.
The pest is suspected of thriving on plants fertilised with Nitrogen,
which have leaves containing
high amino-acid concentrations.
The
pheromones are being investigated.
Further reading :
Ian F.B. Common,
Moths of Australia,
Melbourne University Press, 1990, figs. 47.18, 54.8, pp. 67, 457.
Pat and Mike Coupar,
Flying Colours,
New South Wales University Press, Sydney 1992, p. 77.
Janet D. Farr,
Biology of the gumleaf skeletoniser,
Uraba lugens Walker (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae),
in the southern jarrah forest of Western Australia,
Australian Journal of Entomology,
Volume 41, Part 1 (January 2002), pp. 61-69.
Peter Marriott,
Moths of Victoria: part 2: Noctuoidea (A),
Entomological Society of Victoria, 2009, pp. 32-33.
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