as well as various wild hosts, including :

The Caterpillar burrows into the soil below the plant where it pupates without a cocoon.

(Photo: courtesy of Markku Savela)

The adult moths are brown with pale kidney-shaped marks on the fore wings. They have a wingspan of about 3 cms. The chemical composition of the pheromones of this species have been ascertained.

The eggs are laid in masses of about 80 and covered in pale scales.

The species is found world-wide, eg:

Control is being attempted using :

Further reading :

David Carter, Butterflies and Moths, Collins Eyewitness Handbooks, Sydney 1992, p. 258.

Ian F.B. Common, Moths of Australia, Melbourne University Press, 1990, pp. 25, 65, 462.

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