Brown Looper - Pholodes sinistraria
Family Geometridae
This page contains information about Brown Lopper Moths that we found in the Brisbane area, Queensland, Australia. The moth is also known as Sinister Moth.
- Female, , wingspan 50mm
- Male, wingspan 50mm
- We found this moth in our backyard, resting on a pine tree. Notice its feathery antennae which indicate it is a male. The female moth is slightly different on wing patterns and a litter larger.
- Young instars length 15mm
- When the caterpillars are young, they are dark green in colour with single white band between the segments. They become brown colour in later stages. They feed on different of garden plants and trees in the bush. The caterpillar is a true looper, i.e., it has only two pairs of prolegs and moves forward in a looper style.
- When disturbed, the caterpillar do a Bungee-Jump to escape. The above photos were taken in Toohey Forest during early winter. The small caterpillar was moving on a Wattle tree.
- They are known as Inch Worms because their caterpillars apparently measuring off one inch at a time as they move. The caterpillars are black in colour with white dots. Their adult moths are brown in colour, with pointed wings.
- Mature caterpillar, length 50mm
- Above pictures show a mature caterpillar. It was found on a plum tree in our backyard during early winter, May 2005. The caterpillar was brown in colour, along each side, there are the tiny white dots on each segment.
- After we kept the caterpillar for a few days, we noticed that the caterpillar started moving fast up and down in the container. We understood that the it was the time it becomes a pupa. We checked the reference book that Brown Looper pupates under soil. We put some soil in the container. The caterpillar quickly moved into the soil and disappeared. few days later we checked that it turned into a brown pupa. Then nothing happen for a long time.......................
-
- Until more than six months later, Jan 2006, a female moth came out from the pupa. We put the moth back into out backyard after taking the above photos.
- Reference:
- 1. Pholodes sinistraria (Guenee, 1857) - Don Herbison-Evans & Stella Crossley, 2009
- 2. Moths
of Australia - I. F. B. Common, Melbourne University Press,
1990, p367, Fig36.3, 36.4.
