Family: Geometridae

This is a very large family of moths. Most species rest with their broad wings pressed flat, while a few hold them upright like a butterfly or roll them around their body. Male antennae are usually branched and female usually linear. They are often tucked under the forewing.

Many of the caterpillars of GEOMETRIDAE lack the first two or three pairs of ventral prolegs and are called Loopers because of the way they move. Others caterpillars in this family are called Twig Caterpillars because they can raise themselves and stand on their claspers, sticking straight out at an angle, and so looking like a twig. When disturbed they will drop down on a web.

They mostly pupate in leaf litter or in the soil in a flimsy cocoon.

Reference: https://lepidoptera.butterflyhouse.com.au/geometridae/geometridae.html Cocking, G, Bond, S, Edwards, E (2022) Moths in the A.C.T. Glen Cocking

Subfamilies:

Ennominae

Epidesmiinae

Geometrinae

Larentiinae

Oenochrominae

Sterrhinae