Brown Tussock Moth - Olene mendosa
Family Lymantriidae
- This page contains information and pictures about Brown Tussock Moths that we found in the Brisbane area, Queensland, Australia.
- Wingspan 50mm, male.
- The Brown Tussock Moth caterpillar is hairy, with four tussocks of hair on its back make it look like a toothbrush.
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- We found this Brown Tussock Moth caterpillar in early spring 2002 in a front yard. We took it home to see what it would look like when it became a moth. We found the caterpillar on a garden plants (Calliandra sp.). We bring along with some leaves as its food.
- We put the caterpillar in a jar with those leaves that we found it on. The jar was covered by a cloth and tighten by rubber bend. We cleaned the jar everyday. The caterpillar ate a lot and we put more leaves in the jar everyday . To keep the leaves fresh, we put them in refrigerator.
- After a few days, the caterpillars pupated in a woven cocoon. The pupa is covered with the some hairs of the caterpillar. We had to handle the cocoon very carefully .These hairs may cause irritation if contact, or if they were released to blow about.
- After two weeks, it became a moth. The moths was 30mm in length with hairy body. It held its board wings like roots over their abdomen at rest. There were white and brown grey patterns on its wings. From its antenna we knew it is a male. Moths usually active at night, so we opened the jar and put it in our backyard at night.
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- This caterpillar above was found in Macgregor bushland. Its body is orange brown in colour and has the four distinctive tussocks of hair on its back. We found the caterpillar on Calliandra sp. a few times.
- Reference:
- 1. Olene mendosa Hubner, 1823 - Don Herbison-Evans & Stella Crossley, 2008.
