Gumtree Bizarre Lopper Moth - Anisozyga metaspila
Family Geometridae
This page contains information about Gumtree Bizarre Lopper Moths that we found in the Brisbane area, Queensland, Australia.
- Male, wingspan 30mm
- The caterpillar is brown in colour. It body surface is covered with small hard round bumps.
- Caterpillar 25mm
- We found this caterpillar on early summer 2003. This caterpillar camouflaged as part of a dead leaf. We did not know what caterpillar it was until it start moving. It moved in a looper style. We search among the looper species and find that it was the Bizarre Lopper caterpillar. We took it home with some leaves of the gumtree the caterpillar rest on.
- Two days later the caterpillar turned into a pupa. Another two weeks later, a small green Looper Moth came out from the pupa. The male and female moths of this genus look different. The moth in this page was a male. It was basically green, with lacy white spots on the wings. We kept the moth for another day then let it fly away in our backyard.
To raise caterpillars is fun, especially if we find an unknown caterpillar. It is easily too. We have raised some caterpillars such as the Wanderer, the Crow , the Orchard Butterflies and the Brown Tussock moths. You may like to raise one too. Try it yourself next time when you find a caterpillar. Email me if you successfully raise one or if you find any problem.
- Later we found another caterpillar which is smaller in size. We tried to raise it and see if it was a male of female. But this time we failed. The caterpillar dead before it pupated. The caterpillar did build the shelter for pupation with silk and plants materials. Then the caterpillar stated inside the shelter, but never turned into a pupa.
- The caterpillars are quite common on gumtree leaves in Brisbane. The feed openly during the day.
- Reference:
- 1. Moths of Australia - I. F. B. Common, Melbourne University Press, 1990, Pl.27.4.
- 2. Anisozyga metaspila (Walker, 1861) - Don Herbison-Evans & Stella Crossley, 2010.
