The Sundew exudes sticky drops on the leaf hairs to catch insects, but this caterpillar appears to drink those before venturing onto a leaf.

(Photo: courtesy of Harold McQueen, North Maclean, Queensland)

The caterpillar has a pale brown head and thorax, and a white or pink or green abdomen. The colour seems to vary with the colour of the plant on which it is feeding, perhaps adding some camouflage. The abdominal segments each also have a pair of brown dorsal nodules, and prominent bristles.

The pupa is typically attached to a stem of the foodplant.

(Photo: courtesy of Ant Dan, Mataranka, Northern Territory)

The moth has wings with a pattern of white and brown markings, and has spiny legs and multilobed wings. The wingspan is about 1.2 cms.

The species has been found only in Australia, in for example:

There has been confusion between Trichoptilus ceramodes which occurs in Australia, and the similar European species Buckleria paludum.

Further reading :

Edward Meyrick,
On the classification of the Pterophoridae.,
Transactions of the Entomological Society of London,
1886, p. 14.

Haruka Osaki and Kazuki Tagawa
Life on a deadly trap,
Entomological Society of Japan,
Volume 23, Part 2 (May 2020).

Philipp Christoph Zeller,
Versuch einer naturgemäßen Eintheilung der Schaben,
Isis von Oken, Jena, Volume 3 (1839), p. 277, No. 38.

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(updated 4 May 2011, 19 May 2026)