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Tussock moth

(Poss.) Orgyia australis

Description:

Caterpillar very hairy, with four sets of bristles. The adult female has no wings at all and lays eggs often in the cocoon. Pic #4 is the caterpillar of the same species. Is this another example of neoteny (retaining features of youth into adult life)?

Habitat:

Feeding on Acacia

Notes:

Dec 9 was the date of adult emergence. http://lepidoptera.butterflyhouse.com.au... http://lepidoptera.butterflyhouse.com.au...

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9 Comments

MartinL
MartinL 11 years ago

Thank you for mentioning my spotting Karen.

KarenL
KarenL 11 years ago

Congrats Martin, this spotting has been featured in the Project Noah blog http://blog.projectnoah.org/post/4575585...

starleaf
starleaf 12 years ago

Finally I get to see how the adult looks like.

Thanks for sharing this posting.

Atul
Atul 12 years ago

thats a great series and very informative ,thanks for sharing the info martinl.

MartinL
MartinL 12 years ago

Atul, notice the female has no wings and this one just emerged fro her cocoon.

MartinL
MartinL 12 years ago

Yes, I was hoping for a male to emerge so I could get an ID

Leuba Ridgway
Leuba Ridgway 12 years ago

amazing ! - great series of photos - thanks.

Mark Ridgway
Mark Ridgway 12 years ago

Excellent. Would like to have watched that.

ChunXingWong
ChunXingWong 12 years ago

Strange but true.

MartinL
Spotted by
MartinL

Victoria, Australia

Spotted on Dec 9, 2011
Submitted on Dec 9, 2011

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