Kingdom Animalia Class Insecta Family Geometridae Rank Species | Phylum Arthropoda Subfamily Ennominae | |
Archephanes zalosema is a medium-sized moth in the family Geometridae that is native to Australia. Its wings are green and marbeled with black in a way that makes them look like lichen. It has a wingspan of 4 centimeters. It has back wings, hidden when resting, that have a pale brown color. Underneath the wings is a pale brown color. The antennae of the Archephanes zalosema are not branched. Due to sexual dimorphism the male is smaller than the female.
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Habitat
The Archephanes zalosema moth lives in sub-alpine areas where the mountain pepper lives such as tasmania. It does this because the larva eats mountain pepper.
Life cycle
The eggs are laid in spring on the underside of the mountain pepper leaves. Approximately 60 eggs are lain. When the larva hatches it eats the leaves around it. The larva are colored either green with pink stripes or, red with pink and green stripes. These colors help the larva camouflage on the leaf of the mountain pepper. When it becomes an adult it becomes nocturnal and flies in summer and autumn.