This insect is practically cosmopolitan; it has occurred in the following countries: Australia, Samoa, India, Ceylon, Madagascar, Africa, Europe, North and South America.[[20]]
Genus 12.—COSMODES, Gn.
"Eyes naked. Antennæ in male filiform, shortly ciliated. Thorax with strong transverse anterior and posterior crests. Abdomen strongly crested towards base. Hind-wings with veins 6 and 7 short-stalked."—(Meyrick.)
We have only one species in New Zealand.
COSMODES ELEGANS, Don.
(Phalæna elegans, Don. Ins. N. H. Cosmodes elegans, Gn., Noct. vi. 290; Meyr., Trans. N. Z. Inst. xix. 35.)
(Plate [VI]., fig. 2.)
This beautiful species has occurred at Napier and Ohau in the North Island. In the South Island it has been taken at Christchurch and Governor's Bay.
The expansion of the wings is 1⅛ inches. The fore-wings are rich orange-brown, with four large green spots margined with silver; there is a curved silvery mark near the apex. The hind-wings are pale yellow, shaded with orange-brown towards the termen; the cilia are pale orange-brown mixed with white.
The perfect insect appears in March and April.