Tiger Moths - Family Arctiidae
This page contains pictures and information about Tiger Moths that we found in the Brisbane area, Queensland, Australia.
Tiger Moths are small to medium in size. They usually have bright warning colour patterns, which are spotted in red, orange, black or white. Their stout abdomen usually striped with black and yellow-red colour. The stripes give rise to the name "Tiger Moths". They are either distasteful or to predator or are mimic of distasteful species. Some even produce foul chemical.
Most Tiger
Moths fly at night but some are day-fliers.
Most Caterpillars of the Arctiidae are covered in dense dark hairs, which gives them the name "Woolly Bears". The hairs can cause irritation in sensitive skin. The caterpillars are small to medium size. The caterpillars usually active during the daytime. If disturbed, they will roll into a tight spiral.
Most Arctiidae caterpillars feed on herbaceous plants and easy to rear.
There are three subfamilies in Australia.
Subfamily
ARCTIINAE - Tiger Moths
- Arctiinae Moths are active during the day. They often have very variable colour and pattern on wings. Most of them have colour bands on abdomen. They are medium to large in size with fairly broad wings. Arctiinae Caterpillars are medium to large size, with dense hairs, usually feed on low-growing herbaceous plants.
Subfamily LITHOSIINAE
- Lichen Moths
- Lichen Moth adults are small to medium size, usually with slender body and narrow wings. They do not have the segmental pattern on abdomen. When rest, some of those moths wrap its forewings around its abdomen. Lichen Moth caterpillars usually have less dense hair than the caterpillars in Arctiinae. They feed on lichens, algae or moss.
Subfamily
CTENUCHINAE - Wasp Moths
- Adults in Ctenuchinae are small to medium in size. Their abdomen are usually banded with black and orange colours. This is the warning colours of they are poisonous or distasteful if eaten. They are active during the day. The caterpillars in Ctenuchinae are usually covered with uniform dark hairs. Most of them are active during the day. They pupate in cocoon made of silk and their hairs.
- Reference:
- 1. Insects of Australia, CSIRO, Division of Entomology, Melbourne University Press, 2nd Edition 1991, p908.
- 2. ARCTIIDAE - Some Australian Moths from South-East Queensland, Ian McMillan, 2006.
- 3. Moths
of Australia - I. F. B. Common, Melbourne University Press,
1990, p430.
