Proteuxoa sanguinipuncta

Proteuxoa sanguinipuncta (Guenée, 1852)
(one synonym : Peripyra trilineata)
AMPHIPYRINAE , NOCTUIDAE

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

Proteuxoa sanguinipuncta
(Photo: courtesy of Merlin Crossley)

This Caterpillar is brown, black, and cream. Its head and thorax are narrower than the abdomen, and darker in colour. The body is striped, and there is a characteristic white diagonal stripe on each side of the seventh abdominal segment.

We found our specimens at soil level amongst clumps of grass. The Caterpillars eat various species of :

Grass ( POACEAE ),

and are a minor pest of pastures. They grow to a length of about 4 cms.

They pupate in the soil debris, and in Melbourne, the adult moths emerged three months later in October.

(Photo: courtesy of Merlin Crossley)

The adult is striking. The fore wings are a rich brown colour, with white basal inner and outer lines edged with thin wavy black lines. There are also two black dots ringed with red in the central area of each fore wing, and the wings are further decorated with small red flecks and dots. The hind wings are light brown. The colours fade to plain brown when the moth dies, and museum specimens are a quite dull. The wingspan is about 4 cms.

It is easily confused with the related species Proteuxoa rubripuncta, but distinguishing them is easy:

Proteuxoa sanguinipuncta has black spots partly surrounded with red.

Proteuxoa rubripuncta has red spots partly surrounded with black.

The species is found in

Queensland,

New South Wales,

Australian Capital Territory,

Victoria,

Tasmania,

South Australia, and

Western Australia.