It is found in the Pacific, including Hawaii and New Zealand, Sri Lanka, Europe and northern and southern Africa.

Larval food plants are mainly quinolizidine-bearing tribes of Fabaceae, (Ulex europaeus, Genista sp., Sarothamnus sp., Sophoreae sp., Sophora tomentosa, Carmichaeliae and Genisteae).

[1][3] In Hawaii they have been recorded on Acacia koa and Sophora chrysophylla.

This subspecies is endemic to New Zealand where it is also known as the kowhai moth.

[6] This subspecies occurs throughout New Zealand and its larvae feed on the endemic kowhai species as well as introduced tree lupin.