Species Palleopa innotata Walker, 1866

Museums

Regional Maps

• Palleopa innotata Walker, F. 1866. Supplement 5. List of the Specimens of Lepidopterous Insects in the Collection of the British Museum 35: 1534-2040 [incl. Summary and Index to parts 31-35] [1956].

  Type data:

   Holotype BMNH ♂, [Australia]: New South Wales
  Comment: See Note #284 of McQuillan & Edwards (1996), below.

  Type locality references:

  Swinhoe, C. 1900. Catalogue of Eastern and Australian Lepidoptera Heterocera in the Collection of the Oxford University Museum. Part 2. Noctuina, Geometrina and Pyralidina. Pteropophoridae and Tineina by Right Hon. Lord Wasingham and John Hartley Durrant. Oxford : Claredon Press (a) vi+630 pp., 8 pls. [595].
• Nyctilampes funerea Goldfinch, G.M. 1944. Notes on Australian Boarmiidae and Oenochromidae (Lepidoptera) with descriptions of new species. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales 69: 189-197 [196].

  Type data:

   Lectotype AM ♂, Australia: New South Wales, Mittagong.
  Paralectotype(s) AM ♂, Australia: New South Wales, Mittagong; NMV ♂, Australia: New South Wales, Mittagong.

  Subsequent designation references:

  Young, C.J. & McQuillan, P.B. 2001. Redescription of the little-known Australian geometrid moth Palleopa innotata Walker, 1866 (Lepidoptera: Geometridae: Ennominae). Insect Systematics and Evolution 32: 263–278.

 

Taxonomic Decision for Synonymy

• McQuillan, P.B. & Edwards, E.D. 1996. Geometridae. pp. 200-228 in Nielsen, E.S., Edwards, E.D. & Rangsi, T.V. (eds). Checklist of the Lepidoptera of Australia. Monographs on Australian Lepidoptera. Collingwood : CSIRO Publishing Vol. 4 xiv 529 pp. & CD-ROM. [204] (funerea)

 

Distribution

States

Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Queensland, Tasmania, Victoria

Extra Distribution Information

Palleopa innotata occurs in many eucalypt-dominant habitats in south eastern Australia south of latitude 28° S, including the New England Plateau and to the treeline in subalpine regions of the south-east. This is broadly the eastern part of the extensive Bassian biogeographical zone which spans southern Australia. The seasonal spread of rainfall may be an important factor in its distribution. Palleopa is absent from those parts of southern Australia with a pronounced Mediterranaean-type climate featuring strong summer drought and variably timed autumn breaks, being associated instead with areas of seasonally even rainfall or summer-dominant rainfall. Consequently it lacks the pupal aestivation characteristic of many Bassian ennomines which occur in the hotter parts of southern Australia

Australian Endemic.

Distribution References

Ecological Descriptors

Caterpillar: herbivore (associated flora: Eucalyptus l'Hérit. [MYRTACEAE] Gum trees).

Associated Flora References

Young, C.J. & McQuillan, P.B. 2001. Redescription of the little-known Australian geometrid moth Palleopa innotata Walker, 1866 (Lepidoptera: Geometridae: Ennominae). Insect Systematics and Evolution 32: 263–278 (Eucalyptus)

 

Diagnosis

Individuals from some high altitude areas on the Australian mainland e.g. Barrington Tops, N. S. W. (1067m) and Mt. Kosciusko (1611m and higher) are generally larger and paler in colour than individuals from montane areas (1000m) in Tasmania. Comparative examination of genitalia and other features did not reveal any consistent structural differences between mainland and Tasmanian populations. Hence the larger high altitude individuals have not been accorded separate species status.

 

Diagnosis References

Young, C.J. & McQuillan, P.B. 2001. Redescription of the little-known Australian geometrid moth Palleopa innotata Walker, 1866 (Lepidoptera: Geometridae: Ennominae). Insect Systematics and Evolution 32: 263–278

 

General References

McQuillan, P.B. & Edwards, E.D. 1996. Geometridae. pp. 200-228 in Nielsen, E.S., Edwards, E.D. & Rangsi, T.V. (eds). Checklist of the Lepidoptera of Australia. Monographs on Australian Lepidoptera. Collingwood : CSIRO Publishing Vol. 4 xiv 529 pp. & CD-ROM. [204] (Note #284: Palleopa innotata Walker, 1866 has not hitherto been recognised in Australian collections. Swinhoe (1900: 595) stated that the holotype was lost. It was a specimen from the Saunders collection and has now been located in the BMNH)

 

History of changes

Published	As part of group	Action Date	Action Type	Compiler(s)
05-Jun-2024	GEOMETROIDEA	05-Jun-2024	MODIFIED	Dr Cathy Byrne
21-Feb-2022	GEOMETROIDEA	24-Nov-2023	MODIFIED	Dr Cathy Byrne (TMAG) Di Moyle (TMAG)
21-Feb-2022	GEOMETRIDAE	05-Jun-2024	MODIFIED	Dr Federica Turco (QM)
21-Feb-2022		05-Jun-2024	MODIFIED
21-Feb-2022		05-Jun-2024	MODIFIED
		26-May-2010	MODIFIED