Science Alive! Diary of a PhD

Very little is known about the behaviour of the caterpillar I am studying so I have begun filming these moths whilst they move around the kawakawa leaves. I thought I’d put a clip up to demonstrate some of its characteristic features.



You can see how similar in colour the caterpillar’s body is to the kawakawa leaves, no wonder I had a hard time finding them. The moth belongs to the family Geometridae, which means that it is grouped together with other species of moths (infact 12,000 of them) that all loop their bodies when moving forward. They move in this unusual way because they are missing a number of legs (well actually pro-legs) that most other caterpillars have in the central portion of their abdomen. You can just about see the silken thread attacked to the larvaes silk gland that they use to lodge themselves onto leaves in the event they drop off the leaf (either purposefully to avoid predators or if their knocked off-i.e. my me!)


Apparently there was originally difficulty classifying these moths into one species as the variety of colours and patterns on the adult moth’s wings are so varied. The taxonomist (scientist who classifies different organisms into groups) Walker, in 1860 originally gave this kawakawa looper moth four names (one of which being Selidosema panagrata) but when another scientist, Fletcher revised the genus, the caterpillar was given the Latin name Cleora scriptaria.

Anyhow, you’ll find the moth (if your lucky enough as they’re rather cryptic) throughout the North, South Islands of New Zealand and even Stewart Island most commonly feeding on the kawakawa plant. They have two generations a year, laying a batch of eggs on the host plant, developing through the first to the fifth instar as larvae, pupating and then emerging into the winged imago (adult moth). Keep and eye out for any of these stages when you’re next in the bush…