Hypertropha tortriciformis (Guenée, 1852)
(synonym : Heliodes divitiosa)
HYPERTROPHIDAE

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

Hypertropha tortriciformis

This Caterpillar is speckled brown and cream, with a pale band along its back. It hides in a lacy tunnel formed of strings of frass held together with silk.

Hypertropha tortriciformis

It feeds on new shoots of various sorts of:

  • Gum Trees ( Angophora and Eucalyptus, MYRTACEAE ).

    Hypertropha tortriciformis

    It grows to a length of about 2 cms. When ready to pupate, it leaves its lacy shelter, and crawls along a leaf, and attaches itself to the leaf by a cremaster. The pupa when formed sticks out from the leaf, unprotected by a cocoon.

    Hypertropha tortriciformis
    (Specimen: courtesy of the Macleay Museum, University of Sydney)

    The adult moth has fore wings that are brown with a pale speckled line across each one, and each also has several dark spots and patches. The hind wings are bright yellow with black margins. The moth has a wingspan of about 2 cms.

    Hypertropha tortriciformis

    The species is found in

  • New South Wales,
  • Victoria, and
  • Tasmania.


    Further reading :

    Ian F.B. Common,
    Moths of Australia, Melbourne University Press, 1990, pl. 4.1, p. 236.


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    (updated 31 March 2011)