Some more moths from the first session this year, first, two footmen, Anestia ombrophanes and Anestia semiochrea. MOV Volume 2 notes that A. semiochrea may perhaps be a colour form of A. ombrophanes. The larvae of both feed on lichen, females are wingless.

The Clouded Footman, A. ombrophanes.

The Marbled Footman, A. semiochrea.

The Heliotrope Moth, Utetheisa pulchelloides can occur in very large numbers, at the moment though there is only the odd one about.

Maroga melanostigma continues to show up, even though the Acacia floribunda that the species gradually destroyed is gone from the garden.

Helicoverpa armigera is classed as a serious agricultural pest, and the larvae can attack a wide range of plants. One thing in its favour, they do at least feed on Paterson’s Curse.

A couple of Pyralids,

Araeopaschia normalis.

A Salma species.

An attractive small Crambid, Nacoleia rhoeoalis.

And a ring in to conclude, a very nice Sinister Moth, Pholodes sinistraria discovered in the morning at rest on a brick pillar, click to enlarge.

The first session for the year at home drew in a lot of moths from the native garden, with some surprises among them. The first moth to the sheet was a Bogong Moth, a welcome sight as there has been a big decline in the species. Encouragingly there have been numbers of moths located at some of their traditional summer haunts in the high country, let’s hope that the Mountain Pygmy Possums find enough to sustain them and nourish breeding females. One of the surprises on this night was several very nice Woodland Geometrids, Cryphaea xylina (Nacophorini) coming into the light, a first for the location.

January is the main flight month for the Yellow-tailed Stub Moth, Discophlebia catocalina (Oenosandridae), and true to form, several appeared.

Another first was the record of two Clania ignobilis, (Psychidae), males, the females are wingless. Both moths refused to settle and spent the entire night fluttering up the sheet, so all photos were of moving moths. The wings are translucent and easily loose their scales as can be seen with the images showing almost clear wings. The extended prehensile abdomen can be seen in the second shot.

Possibly the most often observed moth from the garden is the Common Bark Moth, Ectropis excursaria (Boarmiini). these two shots show some of the variation.

One emerald for the night, Chlorocoma stereota, (Geometrinae)

To be continued, most images will enlarge.