Aenetus ligniveren Smaller green wood moth
This moth occurs in Queensland, New South Wales, ACT, Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia and Western Australia. Here we have only seen it once, a female in November.
Larval foodplants
Aenetus ligniveren feeds on a large variety of sapling trees, vines and plants. Larvae feed internally. The eggs of this species are laid on the bark and when the young caterpillars hatch, they bore horizontally then downwards into the stem to make a vertical tunnel. The opening and surrounding stem are covered with a bag of silk and wood fragments. Larva awake nocturnally to feed on the bark under the bag. On our property here at Tallowwood Ridge their known food-plants are
Rubus sp (ROSACEAE) Lophostemon confertus (Brush Box) Callistemon sp. Leptospermum sp. Syzygium sp. (MYRTACEAE) Acacia sp. (FABACEAE) Many of these food-plants are also indigenous to the areas of rainforest immediately surrounding our property. Refer ‘Monographs of Australian Lepidoptera’ Volume 12, Splendid Ghost Moths and Their Allies, CSIRO Publishing 2018.
