This species has a beautiful adult form, with mustard forewings and body, and red hind wings, although the coloration of the wings varies between individuals. Some individuals also have a pair of fragmented silver flashes across each forewing.

male, dark form
(Photo: copyright Peter Marriott)

The moths have a wingspan of from 10 to 12 cms. The adults are on the wing in February, March and April.

female, pale form
(Photo: courtesy of Ken Harris, Morwell Park, Victoria)

We have taken specimens at Anglesea and at Gembrook in Victoria: very different locations: on a coastal heath with some coastal eucalypt cover, and also in the hills behind Melbourne in wet schlerophyll forest. The species can be found in

Tasmania.

(Photo: courtesy of Halina Steele, taken in Merimbula. NSW)

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Further reading :

Ian F.B. Common,
Moths of Australia, Melbourne University Press, 1990, fig. 17.8, p. 150.

Paul Zborowski and Ted Edwards,
A Guide to Australian Moths, CSIRO Publishing, 2007, p. 41.

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(updated 17 September 2011)