Saturday 20 December 2008

December Mothing - 5

A small selection.

(Click images to enlarge)

No. 1. I'm going right out on a limb here. 'I think' this might be a Fairy Moth. If I am correct, it might be Nemophora sp. but I really have no idea. I could find next to nothing on Fairy Moths on the web. This one came to light. If it's not a Fairy Moth, then it's possible it's a Caddisfly of some sort.
On the proviso, it's a Fairy Moth:-
ADELIDAE

UPDATE: It's NOT a Fairy Moth but actually a Caddis (thanks Wendy) and likely to be the Longhorned Caddis, one of over 400 species in Australia, apparently!
Order: Trichoptera
Family: Leptoceridae

No. 2. Possibly Clania ignobilis or Faggot Case Moth
PSYCHIDAE





Thanks to Donald Hobern for his help in identiftying this moth.

It could be Thrinocophora signigerana
TORTRICIDAE

__________________________

NOT MOTHS!! :-)

I'm putting this photo of some very colourful caterpillars up because I found them on the same little Eucalypt regrowth as the Case Moth. The original tree, although only small, became one of the many victims of the local Council's roadside chopping/lopping exercises!! :-(

I'm not sure what they are. Maybe some sort of Sawfly? They certainly rear up when disturbed.

UPDATE: These are actually Leaf Beetle larvae. (Thanks Wendy :-) )
Probably Chrysophtharta variicollis. See here.
CHRYSOMELIDAE



If I am incorrect with any of the above identifications, please set the record straight.

3 comments:

Duncan said...

Baby sawfly grubs indeed JL.

Junior Lepid said...

Thanks Duncan, I thought they might have been. :-)

They didn't spit but they certainly danced!

Gaye said...

hi Junior Lepid,

beaut finds. Do you know the reason for the one long stick in the case-moth cocoon? The female does not come out of the cocoon, so the male backs up on the long stick, and mates with the female, without even setting eyes on her.

Apologies if this is old news to you.

Nice post.

Cheers
Gaye