Dasypodia selenophora

Southern old lady moth at Acton, ACT

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Identification history

Dasypodia selenophora	21 Apr 2025	ibaird
Dasypodia selenophora	21 Apr 2025	WendyEM
Lepidoptera unclassified IMMATURE	15 Dec 2019	GlennCocking
Unverified	28 Dec 2018	TimL

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User's notes

The caterpillar had its head end in a hole in the tree bark and was waiving its spotted rear end in the air, presumably as a threat display.

1 comment

donhe wrote:

29 Dec 2018

The orange tail spots and black thoracic barsare good characters but I have not met a caterpillar with those features. The black bars are reminiscent of Lasicampidae, but all the caterpillars that I know in that family have a hairy skirt along the legs. The pattern is quite like those of some caterpillars in Amphipyrinae which are less hairy, but I do not many caterpillars in that subfamily.

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Location information

Coordinates 149.108288 -35.275367
Maps ANBG
Places Acton, ACT

Sighting information

1 Abundance
18 Dec 2018 01:42 PM Recorded on
TimL Recorded by
Collections
TimL NatureMapr Canberra & Southern Tablelands Noctuoid moths (except Arctiinae) Moths (Lepidoptera) Insects

Additional information

Eucalyptus salinga, Sydney blue gum. fam. myrtaceae. Associated plant
25mm to 50mm Animal size

Species information

Dasypodia selenophora Scientific name
Southern old lady moth Common name
Not Sensitive
Local native
Non-invasive or negligible
Up to 1219m Recorded at altitude
Machine learning
External link More information

Record quality

Images or audio
More than one media file
Verified by an expert moderator
Nearby sighting(s) of same species
GPS evidence of location
Description
Additional attributes

Australian Capital Territory

New South Wales

Queensland

Northern Territory

Western Australia

South Australia

Victoria

Tasmania