Species Dirce aesiodora Turner, 1922

Dirce aesiodora, mature larva on Athrotaxis cupressoides (pencil pine)

© Copyright C. Young

Dirce aesiodora, adult female on Athrotaxis cupressoides (pencil pine).

Dirce aesiodora, adult female.

Museums

Regional Maps

• Dirce aesiodora Turner, A.J. 1922. Australian Lepidoptera of the group Geometrites. Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia 46: 225-294 [291].

  Type data:

   
  Syntype(s) 4♂, Tasmania, Cradle Mountain, 3000-3500 ft.; 4♀, Tasmania, Cradle Mountain, 3000-3500 ft.

Introduction

Dirce aesiodora is the largest of the Tasmanian Archiearinae. The adult is moderately small. Forewings are cryptically coloured and patterned in shades of brown, grey and white. The hindwings have flash colouration consisting of a large yellow spot encircled in dark greyish brown, similar to lunaris and solaris. The female is slightly larger than the male and the colouring of its hindwings more intense.Similar to its congeners, this species flies early in summer but unlike other Dirce spp., the larvae feed on Athrotaxis cupressoides D. Don (pencil pine) (Cupressaceae) (similar to Acalyphes philorites) and A. selaginoides D. Don (King Billy pine) , again through mid-summer. Interestingly this family of gymnosperms is confined to the Northern Hemisphere apart from this single genus (Curtis & Morris 1975). D. aesiodora occurs on the Northern Central Plateau, as far west as Cradle Mountain and south to Mt Field in Tasmania. However adults are difficult to intercept and the species is likely to be under-collected, resulting in under-estimation of its distributional range (Young 2006).

Distribution

States

Tasmania

Extra Distribution Information

Australian Endemic.

Ecological Descriptors

Caterpillar: herbivore (associated flora: Athrotaxis cupressoides D.Don [CUPRESSACEAE] Pencil Pine; Athrotaxis selaginoides D.Don [CUPRESSACEAE] King Billy Pine).

General References

Curtis, W.M. & Morris, D.I. 1975. The Student's Flora of Tasmania. Hobart : Government Printer Part 1 2.

Young, C.J. 2006. Molecular relationships of the Australian Ennominae (Lepidoptera: Geometridae) and implications for the phylogeny of the Geometridae from molecular and morphological data. Zootaxa 1264: 1–147

History of changes