A Weevil?

For several weeks, I've noticed a squadron of these insects congregating under my porch light. I think they might be living under my woodbox, a recycled crate sitting on a couple of offcuts to keep it off the ground. By daylight, they have disappeared.

Body length would be about 8mm.

(Click to enlarge)


The closest I could come up with was a weevil thanks to Peter Chew's excellent site, Brisbane Insects.

Suggestions welcome, as usual.

June Moths

Winter is here and the moths have been few and far between. Here are a few that have landed on the porch wall. I may be insane, but not insane enough to sit under the clothes line observing a sheet slowly absorbing moisture from the cold night air! :-) My sheet and light have been packed away until September or October, depending on weather conditions.


No.1 Oxycanus antipoda again
Hepialidae


No. 2. I suspect this might be Tortricopsis species.
It was approximately 1cm in length.
Oecophoridae : Oecophorinae

UPDATE: I've been checking this moth again and I think it could be a species of Tortricid as the palps are projected directly in front of the head rather than sickle-shaped and/or upturned as with some Oecophorids.


No. 3. Capusa species - propably Capusa senilis again.
Geometridae : Ennominae



No. 4. This moths flopped in front of me as I was stalking fungi.
It could either be Psilosticha mactaria or Philotis cognata. I am
leaning towards the former because of the scalloped hindwings, which
is characteristic of Psilosticha mactaria.
Geometridae: Ennominae

Oxycanus antipoda (Hepialidae)

Well, I think this moth is Oxycanus antipoda!

Hepialids can be quite difficult to correctly identify without the beneift of years of experience and in some cases, a microscope! I was unable to be of much use to Denis when he called for identification assistance recently, but I guess that is part and parcel of the mothing game! We are learning together.

Back to Oxycanus antipoda. My moth was approximately 3.5cm in length. I photographed the same moth at the same time last year although we hadn't had rain for about 5 days. It rained yesterday, 47.5mm to be exact, but I have photographed Hepialids this year without a sniff of rain for a considerable time, so it appears rain is not necessarily the trigger for Hepialids to emerge from underground.

The common name for this moth is the Oxycanus Grub and the larvae feed on grasses.

More Hepialid photographs can be seen at Moths of Great Western.

(Click images to enlarge)

May Mothing

May mothing began rather dismally with cooler nights, cold winds and a damp sheet by about 9pm! However, there have been a few productive sessions. Here is a collection from a couple of reasonably good nights.


Click images to enlarge

Precious little about this moth on the internet
but I am pretty sure it's Cycloprorodes melanoxysta
GEOMETRIDAE : Ennominae


Fisera perplexata
GEOMETRIDAE : Ennominae

Capusa sp. I think Capusa senilis.

I photographed a caterpillar identified as

Capusa senilis in September, 2007, so I know

this one is around.

GEOMETRIDAE : Ennominae

Zyganisus caliginosus (Australian Goat Moth)

COSSIDAE : Cossinae

I'm not 100% sure but I think these two might

be Achyra affinitalis

CRAMBIDAE : Pyraustinae

Some April Moths

Plenty of mothing happened during most of April with the still and reasonably warm nights. All that might change if we receive the rain being 'promised'. We need it badly. To date, I have recorded just 1mm for the month.

Here are a few of the April moths.

More can be found at Moths of Great Western.

(Click images to enlarge)

ANTHELIDAE - Anthela denticulata


OENOSANDRIDAE - Oenosandra boisduvalii (Female)
Thanks Duncan! :-)


NOCTUIDAE : Hadeninae (Leucania) obumbrata
Thanks Marilyn :-)


This I believe is Fisera perplexata
GEOMETRIDAE : Ennominae


NOTODONTIDAE - Hylaeora dilucida (Female)
Thanks Wendy :-)

March Mothing

Here's a selection of moths that have come to the light during March.

More can be found at Moths of Great Western.

(Click images to enlarge)


OECOPHORIDAE : Oecophorinae
Garrha demotica



NOCTUIDAE: Amphipyrinae
Neumichtis nigerrima



TORTRICIDAE : Tortricinae
Meritastis pyrosemana

NOCTUIDAE : Amphipyrinae

Proteuxoa tortisigna

GEOMETRIDAE : Larentiinae

Chrysolentia squamulata

NOCTUIDAE : Hadeninae

A richly coloured Dasygaster padockina

LIMACODIDAE

Doratifera casta caterpillars defoliating a young Eucalypt! 'Silver Princess' to be exact!!!

MOTHS OF GREAT WESTERN

My new site "Moths of Great Western" is up and running.

I wanted to create a site where I could place identified species into their respective Family albums and as I am severely IT disadvantaged, building my own web page is out of the question at this stage! :-)

Ning was the best free host I could find. They also allow a large amount of bandwidth.

10 Family albums appear on the left-hand side of the main page under "Photos". Clicking on the album will open thumbnail photos. Clicking on a photo will enlarge it and show the subfamily and species at the top of the photo. Other albums may be accessed by either clicking "show all" at the bottom of the album section or clicking on "All Albums" or "My Albums".

There is a forum on the site, but you will have to join to talk to me or leave a comment on any of the photos. Communication there will be much easier than it is with blogger. No waiting for comment approval and depending who is around at the right time, real time discussions are a strong possibility.

http://mothsofgreatwestern.ning.com/

I will still keep this blog going, but entries may not be as frequent as they have been. On the other hand, my new site is being updated regularly, whilst the moths are co-operating!!

Hope to 'see' you there!

February Moths - 2

Weather conditions have not been particularly favourable for any mothing since my last entry, because of the southerly winds. At least there has been a break in the stifling heat and up until this morning, a bit of an Autumn feel around the place. To be perfectly frank, I've not felt much like blogging. Victoria's devastating fire tragedy has given me more than myself to think about.

Here are a few from Tuesday night - the first with almost no breeze for a couple of weeks.

(Click images to enlarge)



No. 1
Syringoseca rhodoxantha

OECOPHORIDAE : Oecophorinae





No. 2
A couple of shots showing detail of abdomen and hindwing
plus white marking under the eye of Spectrotrota fimbrialis (I think)


PYRALIDAE : Epipaschiinae

No. 3

This has to be a Tineid - Edosa sp. maybe, because of the way

it was racing all over the sheet, typical of Tineid behaviour when they land, apparently.

TINEIDAE

No. 4

Probably Stenoptilia zophodactylus (thanks, Donald)

This species of Plume Moth has a wingspan of around 1cm.

PTEROPHORIDAE

February Moths - 1

Another appalling day coming up in Victoria. The entire state is on severe fire weather warning and a declared Total Fire Ban day. There is a bad fire in the Bunyip State Park in Gippsland and conditions today could give property owners in the vicinity major concerns.

Although I am miles away from Gippsland, perhaps it's prudent to post my latest 'finds' just in case, as my region is tinder dry and fire-prone! So far, we have been extremely lucky with no serious outbreaks.

(Click images to enlarge)

No. 1
Culama australis
COSSIDAE

No.2

Lepidoscia sp

PSYCHIDAE

No. 3

Persectania sp (I think) possibly Persectania ewingii - Southern Armyworm.

NOCTUIDAE : Hadeninae

TO BE INVESTIGATED

No. 4

No. 5

UPDATE: This is possibly Phycitinae sp.

PYRALIDAE

No. 6

Last of the January 2009 Moths

What a stinking week we've had in Victoria! Trains across Melbourne at a virtual standstill and massive power outages in the middle of one of the hottest weeks on record. Living far away from the city has its merits. although temperatures here were well above 40deg C, we had no power outages here.

(Click images to enlarge)

No. 1 Endoxyla encalypti
COSSIDAE

No. 2 Araeopaschia sp
PYRALIDAE : Epipaschiinae

No. 3 Leucania diatrecta

NOCTUIDAE : Hadeninae

UNIDENTIFIED:

No. 4

Possibly GEOMETRIDAE : Ennominae (to be confirmed)

UPDATE: This is Sterictopsis argyraspis

GEOMETRIDAE : Geometrinae (Thanks for the tip, MH)

No. 5 I love this little moth. All of 1cm in length.

UPDATE: This might be Clania lewinii

PSYCHIDAE

Acknowledgements:

I would like to thank Marilyn, Wendy and Donald Hobern for their assistance with identifications.

Also, without excellent sites like Donald Hobern's and Mosura's, identification of many of the moths I have photographed would have been virtually impossible. Thank you, Donald and Mosura.