Oxycanus antipoda (Herrich-Schaffer, [1853]) (one synonym : Oxycanus fuscomasculatus Walker, 1856) Late Oxycanus HEPIALIDAE,   HEPIALOIDEA

Don Herbison-Evans (donherbisonevans@yahoo.com) and Stella Crossley

(Photo: courtesy of Laura Levens, Upper Beaconsfield, Victoria)

These caterpillars live in tunnels lined with silk in the ground, and emerge at night to feed on nearby vegetation, particularly grass ( POACEAE ). They normally live underground for two years.

male
(Photo: courtesy of William Hall, Googong, New South Wales)

The adult moths often emerge after rain, and have brown forewings each with a variable pattern of dark markings. aThe hindwings are plain brown.

(Photo: courtesy of CSIRO/BIO Photography Group, Centre for Biodiversity Genomics, University of Guelph)

The males fly zigzag paths looking for females. The females are inclined to perch on grass stems awaiting a mate. After mating, the female lays eggs while crawling over the ground or in a fluttering flight at low level. The wingspan is about 6 cms.

(Picture courtesy of CSIRO Entomology)

The species is found in :

Western Australia.

underside
(Photo: courtesy of William Hall, Googong, New South Wales)

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Further reading :

Ian F.B. Common,
Moths of Australia, Melbourne University Press, 1990, fig. 18.5, pp. 67, 145, 150.

Gottlieb August Wilhelm Herrich-Schäffer,
Sammlung neuer oder wenig bekannter aussereuropäischer Schmetterlinge,
Verzeichniss der in diesem Werke gelieferten Arten nach Reihenfolge ihrer Veroffentlichung,
Series I, Volume 1, Part 3 (1855), p. 78, and Plate 10, fig. 44.

Axel Kallies,
Moths of Victoria - Part 6,
Ghost Moths - HEPIALIDAE and Allies,
Entomological Society of Victoria, 2015, pp. 32-33.

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(updated 8 May 2012, 17 May 2018, 2 April 2020, 12 April 2021, 2 May 2022)