Entometa fervens

Entometa fervens (Walker, 1855)
Gum Snout Moth
(one synonym: Lebeda saturata)
LASIOCAMPINAE, LASIOCAMPIDAE

Don Herbison-Evans ( donherbisonevans@yahoo.com ),
and
Stella Crossley &
John Stumm

(updated 4 March 2008)

(Photo: courtesy of Merlin Crossley)

This is a large fleshy Caterpillar with soft downy hairs. It is creamy-brown and grey, often mottled, with a prominent projection on the back near the posterior end, and a pair of fleshy filaments behind the head. It is solitary, and feeds at night on a variety of:

Gum Trees ( Eucalyptus, MYRTACEAE ).

(Photo: courtesy of Edward Tsyrlin, Melbourne)

By day, it rests well camouflaged, flattened against the stem of its foodplant, with the hairs along the sides disguising its legs. Also: the rounded knob on the tail mimics a broken-off gum tree twig. If disturbed, the caterpillar rears up the thorax, tucks its head under the body, displays two black bands, and stiffens the two horns behind the head.

(Photo: courtesy of Martin Purvis)

The caterpillar grows to a length of about 7 cms. It pupates in a white papery cocoon between two leaves on the foodplant.

Male
(Specimen: courtesy of the The Australian Museum)

The moths are rusty coloured with stout hairy bodies. with wings varying in colour from orange through brown to cream. The adult males have a wingspan up to 5 cms.

Male
(Photo: courtesy of Merlin Crossley)

The females have a wingspan up to 8 cms.

Female
(Specimen: courtesy of the The Australian Museum)

The species is found in the southern half of Australia, including:

Tamania, and

Female with eggs

The female lays her eggs in untidy clusters on leaves of a food plant. The eggs are mottled brown and ovoid, with a length of about 2 mm. Many are laid lying on their sides. An adult female captured in Brisbane at night in May 2003 had laid 20 -25 eggs by morning. The eggs hatched 11 days later and the Caterpillars were reared on the young shoots of a Red River gum.

eggs magnified

Most pupated between after 7 to 8 weeks. The last larva delayed pupation until 11 weeks after hatching. After a pupal stage of 6 - 7 weeks, one female and two male adults emerged. The specimen that delayed its pupation by an extra 3 weeks actually emerged as a female adult moth 3 ½ weeks later, so emerging at nearly the same time as those that had pupated early.

We have observed that females bred in captivity lay eggs the next day after they emerge from the pupa, and that these eggs are usually unfertilised. These moths are similar to domestic poultry in this regard.