Adults and juveniles feed off plants including certain Coprosma, Griselinia and Myoporum species.
They have also partaken of the berries of the common hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna), as well as Coprosma and Cyathodes, and even leaf buds of the Common Osier (Salix viminalis).
The larvae of the nominate subspecies are whitish and feed on Acacia koa, Aleurites moluccana, Cheirodendron gaudichaudii, Coprosma foliosa and other Coprosma species, Metrosideros, Pipturus, Rubus hawaiiensis and Smilax sandwicensis.
Coprosma | Coprosma repens | Coprosma macrocarpa | Coprosma lucida |
Above 3,000 metres elevation, the high mountain forest yields to remote sub-alpine habitats including alpine meadows, conifer forest, tree-fern (Cyathea) grasslands, bogs, and shrubby heaths of Rhododendron, Vaccinium, Coprosma, Rapanea, and Saurauia all quite different from the tropical rain forest that covers most of New Guinea.
Plants adapted to the alpine conditions include woody shrubs like Hebe, Dracophyllum, and Coprosma, the conifer Snow Totara (Podocarpus nivalis) and Carex sedge grasses.