(Photo: courtesy of Merlin Crossley)
Don Herbison-Evans (
donherbisonevans@yahoo.com )
&
Stella Crossley
(updated 15 March 2005)
This Caterpillar can vary in colour from buff, or greeny brown to dark grey, and has a broad dark stripe down the back and a lighter stripe each side. The central dark stripe divides into two narrow brown lines on the anal segment and on the head capsule. It is very similar to the Caterpillar of Mythimna convecta, although the adults are quite different.
It is an agricultural pest, causing damage to pastures and crops, such as
It causes special damage by chewing through the stems, severing the seedheads.
In August 1980 near Narrandera in New South Wales, the caterpillars were very abundant in the local pastures. Four weeks later the adults were present in such numbers that they invaded houses, causing some inhabitants to evacuate, and leaving the walls coated with wing scales. They even invaded Melbourne at the same time along with Bogong Moths. The two species entered homes and cars and were a nuisance generally.
The adult moth has fawn fore wings streaked with white, giving them a silky appearance The hind wings are buff, darkening to the margin, with dark veins. It has a wingspan of about 4 cms.
The species occurs mostly in the south and east of Australia, and often migrates across the Bass Strait to Tasmania.
Further reading :
Pat and Mike Coupar, Flying Colours, New South Wales University Press, Sydney 1992, p. 73.
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