Unverified
Can you identify this sighting?
Identify this sighting
| Ardices canescens | CarbonAI | 2 Oct 2026 | |
| Ardices canescens | chriselidie | 2 Oct 2026 |
Please Login or Register to identify this sighting.
User's notes
This caterpillar was found on 28 June in an artificial pond, eating water milfoil (beside milfoil, it had a real taste for banana, which I found out by accident) In early July the caterpillar spun a loose, hairy cocoon in which it suspended itself in the centre. No pupa formed. Instead, smaller white cocoons appeared alongside the caterpillar. I've tried to capture this in picture 5. Nothing has happened to this construct since, it still looks the same as in the picture.
3 comments
3 Oct 2026
Doesn't appear to match A. canescens on LBH very well:-
https://lepidoptera.butterflyhouse.com.au/arct/canescens.html
https://lepidoptera.butterflyhouse.com.au/arct/canescens.html
3 Oct 2026
Yes, I wasn't sure about this choice either. That's what AI suggested and I went with it as one sighting from QPRC LGA in 2024 shown on NatureMapr had a similar striping pattern. Also was wondering if A. canescens really would eat milfoil - this seems to me quite an unusual choice of food
3 Oct 2026
Also just noticed that A. canescens builds its cocoon in soil litter, whereas the caterpillar shown here built its cocoon up away from the ground. So another argument against A. canescens
Sighting information
- 1 Abundance
- chriselidie Recorded by
- Water milfoil (Myriophyllum crispatum) Associated plant
- 25mm to 50mm Animal size
Collections
- chriselidie NatureMapr Canberra & Southern Tablelands Latest Tiger moths (Arctiinae) Moths (Lepidoptera) Insects
Record quality
Quality score
4 / 7
- Images or audio
- More than one media file
- Description
- Additional attributes
- Verified by an expert moderator
- Nearby sighting(s) of same species
- GPS evidence of location