Synemon directa Westwood, 1877
White-banded Sun Moth
 (one synonym is Synemon monodesma Lower, 1905)
CASTNIIDAE,   SESIOIDEA
 
Don Herbison-Evans
(donherbisonevans@yahoo.com)
and
Stella Crossley


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

The adult moth of this species has dark brown forewings each with a large vague pale brown letter 'h'. The hindwings are dark brown, each with a number of orange spots. The wingspan is about 5 cms.


listed as Synemon directa,
drawn by Westwood, lithographed by P.Charles Berjeau, printed by Hanhart,
A monograph of the Lepidopterous genus Castnia and some allied groups,
Transactions of the Linnean Society of London, 2nd Series (Zoology), Volume 1 (1877), Plate XXXIII, fig. 6,
image courtesy of Biodiversity Heritage Library, digitized by Ernst Mayr Library, Harvard University.

The species has been found in

  • Western Australia.


    listed as Synemon monodesma    ,
    drawn by Strand, lithograph by Hochdanz Co., printed by Werner & Winter, for Seitz
    in The Macrolepidoptera of the World, Alfred Kernen Verlag, Volume 10 (1933), Plate 1, fig c2,
    image courtesy of Biodiversity Heritage Library, digitized by Natural History Museum Library, London

    Further reading :

    Oswald B. Lower,
    Descriptions of new Australian Lepidoptera, with synonymic notes, No. XXIII,
    Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia,
    Volume 29 (1905), p. 173.

    Embrik Strand,
    Bombyces and Sphinges of the Indo-Australian Region,
    in Adalbert Seitz (ed.):
    The Macrolepidoptera of the World,
    Stuttgart : Alfred Kernen Verlag, Volume 10 (1933), p.3, and also Plate 1, fig c2.

    John O. Westwood,
    A monograph of the Lepidopterous genus Castnia and some allied groups,
    Transactions of the Linnean Society of London, 2nd Series (Zoology),
    Volume 1 (1877), p. 197, and also Plate 33, fig. 6.

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    (written 24 August 2018, updated 1 October 2026)