''Ardices canescens'', the dark-spotted tiger moth or light ermine moth, is a

moth Moths are a paraphyletic group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not butterflies, with moths making up the vast majority of the order. There are thought to be approximately 160,000 species of moth, many of w ...

in the family

Erebidae The Erebidae are a family of moths in the superfamily Noctuoidea. The family is among the largest families of moths by species count and contains a wide variety of well-known macromoth groups. The family includes the underwings ('' Catocala'') ...

that is found across most of

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. It originally was included in the genus '' Spilosoma'', but later the

generic Generic or generics may refer to: In business * Generic term, a common name used for a range or class of similar things not protected by trademark * Generic brand, a brand for a product that does not have an associated brand or trademark, other ...

status of ''

Ardices ''Ardices'' is a genus of tiger moths in the family Erebidae. The genus was erected by Francis Walker in 1855 and the moths are found in Australia. Species * '' Ardices canescens'' Butler, 1875 * '' Ardices glatignyi'' (Le Guillou, 1841) Sub ...

'' was proven. The larvae are

polyphagous Feeding is the process by which organisms, typically animals, obtain food. Terminology often uses either the suffixes -vore, -vory, or -vorous from Latin ''vorare'', meaning "to devour", or -phage, -phagy, or -phagous from Greek φαγε ...

, and are known to feed on ''

Bidens pilosa ''Bidens pilosa'' is an annual species of herbaceous flowering plant in the daisy family Asteraceae. Its many common names include hitch hikers, black-jack, beggarticks, farmer’s friends and Spanish needle, but most commonly referred to as ...

'', ''

Helianthus annuus The common sunflower (''Helianthus annuus'') is a large annual forb of the genus ''Helianthus'' grown as a crop for its edible oily seeds. Apart from cooking oil production, it is also used as livestock forage (as a meal or a silage plant), as b ...

'', ''

Taraxacum officinale ''Taraxacum officinale'', the dandelion or common dandelion, is a flowering herbaceous perennial plant of the dandelion genus in the family Asteraceae (syn. Compositae). The common dandelion is well known for its yellow flower heads that turn i ...

'', ''

Ipomoea batatas The sweet potato or sweetpotato (''Ipomoea batatas'') is a dicotyledonous plant that belongs to the Convolvulus, bindweed or morning glory family (biology), family, Convolvulaceae. Its large, starchy, sweet-tasting tuberous roots are used as a r ...

'', ''

Alcea rosea ''Alcea rosea'', the common hollyhock, is an ornamental dicot flowering plant in the family Malvaceae. It was imported into Europe from southwestern China during, or possibly before, the 15th century. William Turner, a herbalist of the time, ga ...

'', ''

Rosa odorata Rosa or De Rosa may refer to: People *Rosa (given name) *Rosa (surname) *wiktionary:Santa_Rosa, Santa Rosa (female given name from Latin-a latinized variant of Rose) Places *223 Rosa, an asteroid *Rosa, Alabama, a town, United States *Rosa, Ger ...

'', ''

Plantago ''Plantago'' is a genus of about 200 species of flowering plants in the family Plantaginaceae, commonly called plantains or fleaworts. The common name plantain is shared with the unrelated cooking plantain. Most are herbaceous plants, though a ...

'', ''

Ricinus communis ''Ricinus communis'', the castor bean or castor oil plant, is a species of perennial flowering plant in the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae. It is the sole species in the monotypic genus, ''Ricinus'', and subtribe, Ricininae. The evolution of ca ...

'' and ''

Tradescantia albiflora ''Tradescantia fluminensis'' is a species of spiderwort native to South America. It is one of several plants known by the common name wandering Jew, but now also commonly called wandering trad. It is also known as small-leaf spiderwort, river sp ...

''. The polyembryonic

parasitoid In evolutionary ecology, a parasitoid is an organism that lives in close association with its host (biology), host at the host's expense, eventually resulting in the death of the host. Parasitoidism is one of six major evolutionarily stable str ...

wasp ''

Copidosoma floridanum ''Copidosoma floridanum'' is a species of wasp in the family Encyrtidae which is primarily a parasitoid of moths in the subfamily Plusiinae. It has the largest recorded brood of any parasitoidal insect, at 3,055 individuals. The life cycle begins ...

'' sometimes uses this species of caterpillar as a host.

References

External links

* Spilosomina Moths of Australia Moths described in 1875 {{Spilosomina-stub