A few plants of the many coloured forms of Xerochrysum bracteatum were grown this season for colour, and to attract butterflies and other insects for the camera. A check of them yesterday produced a tiny moth, approximately four millimetres long. Details of such a small moth couldn’t be seen until the photographs were up on the camera and computer monitors, and what a surprise they were. This moth is the Small Thistle Moth, Tebenna micalis, Choreutidae. The larvae feed on plants in the Asteraceae, or daisy family. Images two and three show that the moth is nectaring. Edit, just a week later another plant produced a second moth.
Click above images to enlarge.
Second moth.
