Hairy Mary Caterpillar - Anthela varia
Family Anthelidae
- This page contains information about Hairy Mary Caterpillars that we found in the Brisbane area, Queensland, Australia.
- Caterpillar 70mm
- The young Hairy Mary Caterpillars are black in colour with long white grey hairs. They grow to about 70 to 90mm and become brown with long dense tufts of white hairs.
- We saw a medium size (35mm body length) hairy caterpillar feeding on gum tree leaves. One week later, at same area we found another similar caterpillar, with 90mm in body length. The caterpillar body is dark brown to black in colour, with long white hair. Notice there are two row of white spots on its back. The second picture shows it head, it was feeding on gum tree leaf.
- The adult moths of this species are variable in colour from pale brown yellow to brown, with brown wavy lines and patterns. The female moth is slightly larger wingspans up to 90mm. We did not found any adult moths of this species yet.
- Length 30mm, pictures taken during early winter in Karawatha Forest.
- Length 40mm
- Length 50mm
- Reference:
- 1. Anthela varia - Australian Caterpillars by Don Herbison-Evans & Stella Crossley, 2004.
- 2. A Guide to Australian Moths - Paul Zborowski, Ted Edwards, CSIRO PUBLISHING, 2007, p156.
