Author: Pholodes

Autumn.

With daylight saving over it was time to fire up the moth light at home to check on autumn flying moth species and numbers. It has to be said that the two night sessions were very disappointing with the only moths to arrive in numbers being small grass moths. A few Noctuid species were the next most abundant, with other genera very scarce. The most common Noctuid was Proteuxoa MOV species 6.

Proteuxoa capularis and a Heliothinae species were worth photos.

A fourth Noctuid, Chrysodeixis eriosoma.

On both nights among the first in to the sheet was the small Hepialid, Fraus simulans. A technical note, they were photographed side on at an acute angle to the sheet, which has the effect of rendering the white sheet grey.

One of only four Geometrid species to come in during the two sessions was Stibaroma MOV sp(1).

A small Psychid.

And when packing up, a Mistletoe Moth larva was discovered on the tiles.

Click to enlarge.

The Pasture Day Moth.

Apina callisto, (Agaristinae) is a little unusual in that is a day flying Noctuid moth, and based on recent experience it doesn’t appear to come to the moth light at night. After the welcome rain, grass and weed growth has been prolific, and at the moment these moths are in numbers with males in pursuit of females. Their flight is swift and erratic and hard to follow, they are very wary, and hard to approach on the odd occasion when they land. Two sessions in the paddock with the 200 mm macro lens resulted in just three keepers, two males briefly perched on grass seedheads, and a mating pair tucked away in some capeweed which is one of the larval food plants. The larvae tunnel into the ground where they pupate.

Mating pair, female on the right with simple antennae.

Horizontal shots will enlarge with a click.