Hestiochora tricolor (Walker, 1854)
 (previously known as Procris tricolor)
PROCRIDINAE,   ZYGAENIDAE,   ZYGAENOIDEA
  
Don Herbison-Evans
(donherbisonevans@yahoo.com)
and
Peter Cunningham & Stella Crossley

Hestiochora tricolor
male
(Photo: courtesy of Peter Cunningham, Mittagong, New South Wales)

The Caterpillar of this species feeds on various species of MYRTACEAE including :

  • Turpentine ( Syncarpia glomulifera ), and
  • various Gum Trees ( Eucalyptus ).

    Hestiochora tricolor
    female
    (Photo: by Sarah and Michael Guppy, courtesy of Joan Fearn, Moruya, New South Wales)

    The adult moth is rather wasp-like, having a black body with white bands, and a red collar around its head. The wings are black but lose the scales readily to become partly transparent. The moth has a wingspan of about 2 cms.

    Hestiochora tricolor
    male underside

    The species has been found in the southern half of Australia, including

  • New South Wales,
  • Australian Capital Territory,
  • Victoria,
  • Tasmania, and
  • South Australia.

    Hestiochora tricolor
    listed as Procris tricolor,
    lithograph by William Wood, printed by George Henry Ford & William West, for Arthur_Gardiner_Butler,
    Illustrations of typical specimens of Lepidoptera Heterocera in the collection of the British Museum,
    Part 1 (1877), Plate VI, fig. 6,
    image courtesy of Biodiversity Heritage Library, digitized by Gerstein Library, University of Toronto.

    The species name actually covers a complex of several unrelated species, which are superficially similar, but which can only be distinguished by microscopic examination of the genitalia.


    listed as Hestiochora tricolor    ,
    drawing 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 h3,
    image courtesy of Biodiversity Heritage Library, digitized by Natural History Museum Library, London.

    Further reading :

    Arthur Gardiner Butler,
    ZYGÆNIDÆ,,
    Illustrations of typical specimens of Lepidoptera Heterocera in the collection of the British Museum,
    Part 1 (1877), p.13,, and Plate VI, fig. 6.

    Ian F.B. Common,
    Moths of Australia,
    Melbourne University Press, 1990, pl. 7.18, pp. 297-298.

    Embrik Strand,
    Tascina-Isocrambia, Indo-Australian Bombyces and Sphinges,
    in Adalbert Seitz (ed.): The Macrolepidoptera of the World,
    Stuttgart : Alfred Kernen Verlag,
    Volume 10, (1933), Plate 1, fig h3.

    Gerhard M. Tarmann,
    Zygaenid moths of Australia: a revision of the Australian Zygaenidae,
    CSIRO Publishing, 2004.

    Francis Walker,
    Catalogue of Lepidoptera Heterocera,
    List of the Specimens of Lepidopterous Insects in the Collection of the British Museum,
    Part 1 (1854), p. 111, No. 13.

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    (updated 28 January 2012, 16 September 2026)