Kingdom Animalia Superfamily Noctuoidea Genus Ardices Phylum Arthropoda Order Butterflies and moths | Class Insecta Family Erebidae Scientific name Spilosoma canescens Rank Species | |
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Similar Butterflies and moths, Spilosoma glatignyi, Anthela ocellata, Acyphas semiochrea, Anthela nicothoe | ||
Ardices canescens, the dark-spotted tiger moth or light ermine moth, is a moth in the family Erebidae that is found across most of Australia. It originally was included in the genus Spilosoma, but later the generic status of Ardices was proven.
The larvae are polyphagous, and are known to feed on Bidens pilosa, Helianthus annuus, Taraxacum officinale, Alcea rosea, Rosa odorata, Plantago, Ricinus communis and Tradescantia albiflora. The polyembrionic parasitoid wasp Copidosoma floridanurn sometimes uses this species of caterpillar as a host.
References
Ardices canescens Wikipedia(Text) CC BY-SA