Synemon gratiosa Westwood, 1877
Graceful Sun Moth
 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)

These caterpillars are off-white. They live undeground, boring into the roots of various species of Matrush (ASPARAGACEAE), including

  • Coastal Matrush ( Lomandra maritima ), and
  • Bisexual Matrush ( Lomandra hermaphrodita ).


    drawing by John O. Westwood, listed as Synemon graciosa
    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. 13,
    image courtesy of Biodiversity Heritage Library, digitized by Ernst Mayr Library, Harvard University.

    The adult moth of this species has pale grey-brown forewings each with substantial dark brown markings. The hindwings are scarlet, each with variable dark brown markings, including dark brown margins sometimes containing a submarginal arc of pale spots. The wingspan is about 3 cms.

    The species occurs in

  • Western Australia.

    Further reading :

    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. 198, and also Plate 33, fig. 13.

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    (written 24 August 2018)