Leptocneria reducta

White Cedar Moth at Higgins, ACT

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Identification history

	Leptocneria reducta	28 Jan 2021	donhe
	Leptocneria reducta	27 Jan 2021	AlisonMilton

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User's notes

Photo 1: newly emerged. Photos 2-5 taken earlier on 24 January. Photo 2: the pupae still intact. Photo 3: I almost missed the small male under the wing of the larger female. Photo 4: the male and Photo 5: an empty pupae case. Interesting that though the larvae feed on the White Cedar tree, they pupate under the bark of the nearby gum tree.

2 comments

donhe wrote:

28 Jan 2021

That is one reason why they are a pest. When they wish to pupate, mature caterpillars go walkabout, seeking somewhere nice to pupate. Some travel up to 50 metres from their food tree, invading homes, garages, sheds, cars, anywhere, in their search.

AlisonMilton wrote:

28 Jan 2021

Numbers haven't been so bad lately but there was one year (perhaps 10 years or so ago) when the whole base of the White Cedar tree was covered in hundreds of caterpillars. Luckily have not seen them like that again.

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Location information

Coordinates 149.029701 -35.238315
Altitude 581.0m
Places Higgins, ACT

Sighting information

3 Abundance
24 Jan 2021 08:32 AM Recorded on
AlisonMilton Recorded by
Collections
Insects Moths (Lepidoptera) Noctuoid moths (except Arctiinae) AlisonMilton Canberra & Southern Tablelands NatureMapr

Additional information

Eucalyptus Associated plant
12mm to 25mm Animal size
Mixed Gender

Species information

Leptocneria reducta Scientific name
White Cedar Moth Common name
Not Sensitive
Local native
Non-invasive or negligible
Up to 807.4m Recorded at altitude
Machine learning
External link More information
Synonyms
Lymantria aurivillii

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