Page 417 - The Book of Caterpillars: A Life-Size Guide to Six Hundred Species From Around the World

MOTH CATERPILLARS

FAMILY Saturniidae
DISTRIBUTION Across Australia, but mainly near the east coast
HABITAT Eucalyptus forests
HOST PLANTS Eucalyptus (Eucalyptus spp.) and others, including pine
(Pinus spp.), apple (Malus spp.), and Apricot (Prunus armeniaca)
NOTE Giant silkmoth species with pupation lasting up to ten years
CONSERVATION STATUS Not evaluated

ADULT WINGSPAN
4¼–5½ in (110–140 mm)
CATERPILLAR LENGTH
3¾ in (95 mm)
OPODIPHTHERA EUCALYPTI
EMPEROR GUM MOTH 415

(SCOTT, 1864)

The Emperor Gum Moth caterpillar hatches in the spring or
summer in Australia (October to March) and begins feeding.
It is black and white in its rst stage and progresses through ve

larval instars, molting into a larger and di erently colored skin

each time, ending up mostly green but multicolored in the nal
stage. The caterpillar spins a very tough and hard cocoon where
it pupates. The adult usually emerges the following spring or
summer, but depending on rainfall the pupa may remain in the
cocoon for up to ten years before emerging.

The genus Opodipthera contains from 12 to 20 or more similar
species, distributed in Australia, New Guinea, and several nearby
islands, and represents most of the saturniid species in Australia. The Emperor Gum Moth caterpillar is mostly
green, blending into powder blue dorsally, with
The Emperor Gum Moth caterpillar can be destructive to some a white lateral stripe. It has a band of eshy,

wild eucalyptus trees but has not a ected commercially grown bristle-tipped tubercles on each segment,
dual-colored either yellow and blue, yellow
species. It also feeds on introduced trees such as pine, apple, and purple, red and blue, or red and purple.
and apricot, but without signi cant damage. The spiracles are red, the head is green,

and the legs are black and brown.

Actual size