Monday 29 September 2008

September Mothing

(Click images to enlarge)


This is not a good image - it's really only suitable for my records, but I'm putting it up anyway. Don't be misled by this photo, the moth was more a light fawn colour.

I suspect it's Scopula perlata.
Subfamily: Sterrhinae
Geometridae





UPDATE: I've just received information that this moth might be Agrotis radians because of apparent white lines along the wing veins in my photo. The presence of white lines would separate A radians from A munda who don't have white lines. (Thanks MH)

Thanks to Mosura, I believe he is quite correct with his identification of this moth as Agrotis munda. The lava of this species is called the Brown or Pink Cutworm. It is a horticultural pest.
Subfamily: Noctuinae
Noctuidae





I have no idea what this one is! :-) Any help would be gratefully received!
UPDATE: This moth may well be (Cymatophora) aspera. Brackets because there is some confusion regarding genus. Virtually nothing is published either in books or online regarding this species of moth. Thanks again, MH. :-)
Geometridae
Subfamily: Ennominae



This one does look a bit like Helicoverpa punctigera and/or H. armigera, the caterpillars of both are serious crop pests!
Subfamily: Heliothinae
Noctuidae

All these moths were around 2cm in length.







4 comments:

Mosura said...

I'm glad some of you are getting moths.

That second one may be Agrotis munda

Junior Lepid said...

Thanks for the tip, Mosura. I will check Agrotis munda out.

Friday and Saturday nights were quite warm and reasonably still.

It's cold again here so mothing will be on the back burner until it warms up.

Mosura said...

It's been cold cloudy and wet here for weeks.

A. munda and A. radians both have, to some extent, white edging along the vains, much more so on A. radians. The underwing of munda are generally much whiter as yours appear to be from what little you can see. Have a look at the following CSIRO photos:

#1-munda
#2-radians
#3-radians

I'm not suggesting MH is wrong. I don't even know who he/she is. Might be the foremost lepidopterist in Vic in which case who am I to argue:-) However I just thought I'd share why I went for A. munda

Junior Lepid said...

Mosura, thank you again for the info. It can be hard to identify by photo alone. It could be either. If I see this moth again, I will try for better images, including more of the hindwing without mangling the moth! :-) Without your help, I wouldn't have found the correct genus so I've learnt a bit more from this exercise. :-)