Bag Shelter Moth
Larva, ventral
Ellura
Bag Shelter Moth
Larvae, Food Orgy
 
                      
Bag Shelter Moth (Ochrogaster lunifer)Class: Animals (Animalia) - Jointed Legs (Arthropoda) - Insects (Insecta)
Order: Butterflies & Moths (Lepidoptera)
Family: Oakworm (:Noctuoidea Notodontidae)     iNaturalist Observation
Species: Bag Shelter Moth (Ochrogaster lunifer)
This Photo:     Larvae, The Canteen
Other name: Processionary Caterpillar

Thank you Tony and Jenny Dominelli for confirming the id of this species for us

EXTRA - Photo Specific Information:
The larvae seem to be nocturnal, eating at night and then heading for protection after dawn to their bags; which in our case are at the bottom of bushes or trees, not necessarily the food source. In other locations the bags have been seen high up in a tree. About 10% of our Senna artemisioides ssp zygophylla in a 5 acre area were being eaten, but not the S. a. ssp filifolia, that are mixed in with the S. a. ssp zygophylla and look so similar.
General Species Information:
Found on Ellura (in the Murray Mallee, SA) and elsewhere
Thank you Ethan Beaver for noting special characteristics of this species for us

See individual photo's for more information.
Head & body ~18mm, wingspan ~45mm (ours all seem to be similar size). Males & females have bipectinate antennae, with males having much longer (obvious to the naked eye) pectinations.
Caterpillars in our area seem very green to most other images. While male adult wing patterns vary considerably, they generally seem to be a subset of the most heavily marked specimens. At most a black transverse wavy line, with many white longitudinal lines; with at the least a tiny white spot. Females seem to only have a white spot, not white stripes. All our specimens have the same dull brown background, where as others vary between nearly black to ochre coloured backgrounds (Ethan's collection indicates strong geographic variation of the background colour, as well as size). It is considered these are a species complex. He even has a specimen with no orange on the abdomen!
Gender cannot be reliably determined from their posterial white scales, as these wear off and possibly vary in colour (in males). Ethan told us that these white scales are used to protect the eggs. He said "they form such a dense coating that ants and other small creatures cannot dislodge them to reach the eggs". The antennae, which are often well hidden, are the only reliable form of separation (but a striped specimen is most likely a male and a specimen with bulbous white "tail" will be a female).

Copyright © 2013-2024 Brett & Marie Smith. All Rights Reserved. Photographed 29-Jan-2013
This species is an Australian Native Species, not listed in the SA Murray Mallee Survey of 2010.