Dasygaster epundoides Guenée, 1852
Plain Black Armyworm
 (one synonym : Dasygaster punctivena Walker, 1856)
HADENINAE,   NOCTUIDAE,   NOCTUOIDEA
 
Don Herbison-Evans
(donherbisonevans@yahoo.com)
and
Stella Crossley


(Photo: courtesy of Andrew Mitchell, Australian Museum)

The adult moths of this species have dark brown forewings each with a small white comma near the middle. The hindwings are pale brown shading darker towards the margins. The wingspan is about 3.5 cms.


female, listed as Dasygaster epundoides,
drawing by Horace Knight, printed by André & Sleigh Ltd., for George F. Hampson,
Catalogue of Lepidoptera Phalænæ in the British Museum, Noctuidæ, Volume V (1905), Plate XCI, figure 15,
image courtesy of Biodiversity Heritage Library, digitized by Ernst Mayr Library, Harvard University.

This species has been found in

  • New South Wales,
  • Victoria, and
  • Tasmania.

    The genus into which this species should be placed is controversial.

    Further reading :

    Achille Guenée,
    Noctuélites,
    in Boisduval & Guenée: Histoire Naturelle des Insectes; Spécies Général des Lépidoptères,
    Volume 9, Part 5 (1852), p. 202, No. 321.

    Peter Marriott & Marilyn Hewish,
    Moths of Victoria - Part 9,
    Cutworms and Allies - NOCTUOIDEA (C)    ,
    Entomological Society of Victoria, 2020, pp. 26-27.

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    (updated 18 October 2011, 17 August 2026)