Green-blotched Moth (Cosmodes elegans)

MothsMoths Index Aedia arctipennis Anthela guenei (Four-Spot Anthelid Moth) Australian Striped Hawk Moth Bag-shelter Moth (Ochrogaster lunifer) Case Moths (Variety of Cocoons) Coenotes eremophilae Convolvulus Hawk Moth Day Flying Moth Emperor Gum Moth (Opodiphthera eucalypti) Four-spotted Cup Moth Green-blotched Moth (Cosmodes elegans) Leaf Case Moth Mistletoe Emperor Moth Plume Moth Rattlepod Moth (Utetheisa) Ribbed Case Moth Sameodes cancellalis Saunders’ Case Moth (Metura elongatus) White-spotted Owl-Moth

Cosmodes elegans, known as the Green Blotched Moth, is in the family Noctuidae and native to Australia. It is found in New South Wales, Norfolk Island, Queensland, South Australia, Victoria and southern region of Western Australia. It is also found in New Zealand, most likely a migrant or vagrant.

The moth larvae (caterpillars) grow to about 3 cm and are bright green with dark spiracles on both sides. The adult moths have a distinctive shaped forewing, are brown with green markings on the forewings and white hindwings fading to light brown along the edges. It has a hairy crest just behind their head. The adult moth has a wingspan of about 40 mm.

Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Hexapoda
Class: Insecta
Informal: Pterygotes
Order: Lepidoptera
Unranked: Ditrysia
Superfamily: Noctuoidea
Family: Noctuidae
Subfamily: Acronictinae
Genus: Cosmodes
Species: Cosmodes elegans

Footnote & References

Green-blotched Moth (Cosmodes elegans), debtaylor142, iNaturalistAU, https://inaturalist.ala.org.au/observations?place_id=6744&subview=map&taxon_id=333747&user_id=debtaylor142
Cosmodes elegans (Donovan, 1805), Atlas of Living Australia, https://bie.ala.org.au/species/https://biodiversity.org.au/afd/taxa/f51e8eb8-bce7-4e98-b084-2578cfe46cba