Yeperenye / Yipirinya

Alice Springs Fauna •

Alice Springs Moths | Alice Springs Moths Index

Alice Springs is the home of the Yeperenye and the Australian Striped Hawk Moth (Hyles livornicoides). Yeperenye is the larvae stage of the Yeperenye caterpillar.

Yeperenye (and the alternative spelling of Yipirinya), in the local Arrernte aboriginal language, is also spelt as Ayepe-arenye — being pronounced Yep-ah-rin-ya.

The following image of the Australian Striped Hawk Moth (Hyles livornicoides) was photographed at the entrance of the Alice Springs Yeperenye Shopping Centre.

Whilst Hyles livornicoides can be found in New South Wales, the Northern Territory, Queensland, Victoria and Western Australia, it is here in Alice Springs that it is a sacred totemic ancestral being for the Arrernte people of Alice Springs, Central Australia.

It has been said that the caterpillar needs a particular kind of rain to emerge. They then spend all their time feeding on a sticky groundcover called tar-vine, after which they go underground where they cocoon to emerge as moths.

Following are some of the instar phases of the Hyles livornicoides caterpillar (feeding on Boerhavia coccinea).

More information in our Fauna > Insects > Moths > Australian Striped Hawk Moth.

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• Scientific classification
• Kingdom: Animalia
• Phylum: Arthropoda
• Subphylum: Hexapoda
• Class: Insecta
• Informal: Pterygotes
• Order: Lepidoptera
• Unranked: Ditrysia
• Superfamily: Sphingoidea
• Family: Sphingidae
• Subfamily: Macroglossinae
• Genus: Hyles
• Species: Hyles livornicoides

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Alice Springs MothsMoths Index Achaea sp Acontia nivipicta Aedia leucomelas (Sweet Potato Leaf Worm) Agrotis munda (Brown Cutworm Moth) Arhodia lasiocamparia Australian Striped Hawk Moth (Hyles livornicoides) Bag-shelter Moth & Processionary Caterpillar Carpenter Moth (Endoxyla cinereus) Chasmina pulchra (White Beauty) Cleora (Geometer Moth) Convolvulus Hawk-moth (Agrius convolvuli) Dasypodia selenophora (Southern Old Lady Moth) Destolinia lineata (Caterpillar of the Streaked Notodontid) Diatenes gerula (Erebid Moth) Dichromodes sp (Geometer Moth) Endoxyla Moth (family Cossidae) Gelechioid Moth Giant Wood Moth (Endoxyla cinereus) Godart’s Hawkmoth (Agrius godarti) Helicoverpa punctigera (Australian Fruitworm) Owlet Moth (Eudesmeola lawsoni) Hippotion celerio Laced Day-Moth (Ipanica cornigera) Owlet Moth (Ophiusa parcemacula) Leptocneria binotata Plume Moth (Pterophoridae) Mocis alterna (Bean Looper Moth) Sameodes cancellalis (Banded Pearl) Niguza spiramioides Yeperenye / Yipirinya

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