They pupate in their borehole. When the adult moth emerges, the empty pupal skin is left sticking out of the hole.

(Photo: courtesy of Buck Richarson, Kuranda)

The adult moths have a variable vague pattern of light and dark grey or brown on the wings, including a darker spot near the middle of each forewing. The forewings each have a sinusoidal inner margin, and the hindwings a convex inner margin. The moths are very large. The females are larger than the males, and have a wingspan up to 23 cms.

(Picture: courtesy of CSIRO Entomology)

The species occurs over

(Picture: courtesy of the Burkes Backyard Television Show)

Further reading :

David Carter,
Butterflies and Moths, Collins Eyewitness Handbooks, Sydney 1992, p. 293.

Ian F.B. Common,
Moths of Australia, Melbourne University Press, 1990, fig. 26.12, p. 271.

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(updated 9 September 2011)