Geometridae (family) IMMATURE
Latham, ACT
Identify this sighting
| Ciampa arietaria | ibaird | 5 Sep 2025 | |
| Geometridae (family) IMMATURE | donhe | 1 Sep 2025 | |
| Geometridae (family) IMMATURE | WendyEM | 1 Sep 2025 | |
| Unverified | Caric | 1 Sep 2025 |
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User's notes
A tiny caterpillar / looper. The weave it's on is a cotton bag. Could have been 5mm stretched out I'm not certain.
12 comments
1 Sep 2025
I'm afraid I won't be rearing this one - I found it while weeding native grassland so carefully put back where I found it!
3 Sep 2025
The death rate of caterpillars in the wild is above 99%. Leaving a caterpillar in the wild is a virtual death sentence. Also : there are published photos of the caterpillars of only 7% of Australia's moth species. You an help improve this sad state of affairs by taking caterpillars into protective custody, and rearing them to get the adult moth. All you need is a clean jar with a fabric top held by an elastic band.
3 Sep 2025
That's very interesting. Do they need food of any kind because some species would have particular preferences wouldn't they? And temperature / humidity? The feral pest but beautiful Chrysodeixis I raised was in a box with leaf, lined with kitchen roll with leaf and on sunny window sill as it was winter.
3 Sep 2025
Your first and best option would probably be to regularly feed it fresh grass or leaves of the kind you found it on or those in the vicinity, Some species may very particular in their tastes but others may accept several different food types. With an unknown species you are not going to know in advance either way, So as Don says, give it a try if you wish!
3 Sep 2025
Your first and best option would probably be to feed it the grass or leaves you found it on or those in the vicinity, Some species may very particular in their tastes but others may accept many different food types. With an unknown species you are not going to know in advance either way, So as Don says, give it a try if you wish!
3 Sep 2025
Thanks for these comments. After a few experiments with cabbage whites for confidence I might have a go.
4 Sep 2025
I have tried offering larvae a variety of leaves to see if they will eat any and then feed them what they choose -sometimes it takes a couple of goes to find what they will eat.
4 Sep 2025
The six basic common Australian caterpillar foods are:
Gum leaves,
Wattle leaves,
Herbaceous plant leaves,
Grass,
Lichen, and
Flower petals.
If an unknown caterpillar rejects all five, then rose petals and thinly sliced apple are good standbys. Apparently plants in Rosaceae have developed very few poisons.
Gum leaves,
Wattle leaves,
Herbaceous plant leaves,
Grass,
Lichen, and
Flower petals.
If an unknown caterpillar rejects all five, then rose petals and thinly sliced apple are good standbys. Apparently plants in Rosaceae have developed very few poisons.
4 Sep 2025
Thanks again. I'll definitely have a go next time and will keep a copy of all these notes.
5 Sep 2025
I thought this looked familiar. Looking at some of my old photos I have a picture of Ciampia arietaria from 8 Sept 2007, galgi gnarrk (Craigieburn Grassland) N of Melbourne on Hume H'way. see Sighting 4693433
5 Sep 2025
This is similar to photos of the larva of Ciampa arietaria, but we do not know how many other species in Diptychini have larvae looking like this because there are published photos of the larvae of only 57 out of the 174 species in this tribe, and this could be one of the other 117.
Location information
- Coordinates 149.026288-35.214190
- Maps Umbagong District Park
- Places Latham, ACT
Sighting information
- At least 1 Abundance
- 28 Aug 2025 09:52 AM Recorded on
- Caric Recorded by
- in soil under a grass plant Associated plant
- 5mm to 12mm Animal size
Collections
- Caric NatureMapr Canberra & Southern Tablelands Geometridae (family) IMMATURE Geometer moths (Geometridae) Moths (Lepidoptera) Insects
Species information
- Geometridae (family) IMMATURE Scientific name
- Common name
- Not Sensitive
- Local native
- Non-invasive or negligible
- Up to 1418.1m Recorded at altitude
- External link More information
Record quality
Quality score
6 / 7
- Images or audio
- More than one media file
- Verified by an expert moderator
- GPS evidence of location
- Description
- Additional attributes
- Nearby sighting(s) of same species