Cluster Caterpillar - Spodoptera litura
Family Noctuidae
This page contains pictures and information about Cluster Caterpillars and the moths that we found in the Brisbane area, Queensland, Australia.
- Body length 20mm
- This moth is grey to brown in colours with complex patterns on forewings. They hide on plants near the ground during the day.
- Picture taken on Dec 2007, Bulimba Creek near Sunnybank.
- Cluster Caterpillar, Mar 2008, Bulimba Creek near Wishart
- Their Eggs are laid under an irregular fluffy mass of fawn hairs. Picture shows the newly hatched caterpillars still under the protection of those irregular fluffy mass. Young caterpillars are clear green with dark head. We are not exactly sure if this is the young caterpillars of this species, but they looked very similar.
- The fully-grown caterpillars are brown to green in colour with lines along the body. They feed on most kinds of leaves include garden plants and vegetable crops. They are not welcome by most farmers. .
- Reference:
- 1. Spodoptera litura - lifeunseen.com, by Nick Monaghan, 2005.
- 2. Spodoptera litura (Fabricius, 1775) - Caterpillars of Australian, by Don Herbison-Evans & Stella Crossley, 2008.
- 3. Moths of Australia - I. F. B. Common, Melbourne University Press, 1990, p461, Fig48.20.
