The larvae are small at only 5 - 12 mm long, pale green with a yellow stripe down the back. Some have a series of red patches either side of the stripe. Their feeding on the leaves causes skeletonization and ultimately leaf fall. In some situations complete defoliation occurs.

The larva moves very slowly while feeding and when undisturbed but is quite mobile when disturbed. They are able to work their way to the top branches and are able to cling to the top most leaves in winds.

We suspect that the larva are reasonably long lived but we don’t know for sure. We have never seen them in high concentrations and suspect they just work away slowly over a long period. There may be only two generations per year.

Virtually all the pupae we have found have been on twigs in the understory so the larvae have either fallen to the ground on falling leaves or come down with branches that have been pruned.

Just before pupation the larvae go a grey colour and gather debris for the pupal case.