Black slug moth

Appearance

The adults have brown wings, with a row of black dots. They have a wingspan of about 4 cms. They often sit with the forewings vertical, and the hind wings held horizontally, like skipper butterflies. The adults may easily be confused with those of of Doratifera quadriguttata. This is one case where the Caterpillars provide much clearer identification of the species.

Distribution

Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria, Australia

Reproduction

The eggs of this Caterpillar are laid in a mass of about 40, and covered in brown fur.
When the Caterpillars hatch, they feed communally. They sit on the leaf surface, touching each other, eating initially only the surface layer from the leaf. Later they separate, having a whole leaf each. The Caterpillars feed on:
Gum Trees ( Eucalyptus, MYRTACEAE ),
Bottlebrush (Callistemon, MYRTACEAE).
Water Gum ( Tristaniopsis laurina, MYRTACEAE ),
Brush Box ( Lophostemon confertus, MYRTACEAE ), and
Wattles ( Acacia, MIMOSACEAE ).

The Caterpillars grow to length of about 2 cms.
The Caterpillar is coloured black and white, and along the back and the sides of the Caterpillar are cream fleshy spikes. Four of these on the thorax protrude rosettes of cream stinging hairs if the Caterpillar is disturbed. Their contrasting coloration offers a warning that these Caterpillars sting. The head is brown, and tucked under the body. The Caterpillars move like slugs because their legs are reduced.
When fully grown, the Caterpillars leave the foodplant and walk up to 20 metres looking for a suitable crevice or piece of leaf litter in which to pupate.
The pupa is enclosed in a spherical brown woody cocoon, about 0.7 cm in diameter. The pupal period varies from 2 to 10 months.