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Wednesday 24 February 2016

Aloa marginata ARCTIINAE ARCTIIDAE

Sometimes when I start researching a moth to put on this blog, I find there are a number of different names for a moth which seem to be referring to just one physical moth. I then do a search for synonyms. The results can be quite surprising, as in this case.

Although all the references would appear to be referring to the one moth, many of the sites do not have a picture, or at least a decent picture of the moth and since the moth is an "extremely variable species" (Common, Moths of Australia P435), having a great variation in the black markings on the wings, and the colour of the the wings at times can be a bit pink. The abdomen in the case of the photo I have put in, is red, but it can also be yellow. No doubt when or if the DNA of the moth is examined it may turn out there are many moths or many colours to the one moth.

You can imagine, with the technology of the early 1800's it was easy to assume that there were many species where at present there appears to be just one variable one.
For the purposes of this post, I will use the name from  Australian Moths link in the right hand column of the blog page. This is an excellent site and I can highly recommend it to anyone interested not only in moths, since the other areas of the site cover butterflies and the larvae of both.

Aloa marginata ARCTIINAE ARCTIIDAE 





Family:- ARCTIIDAE
Sub Family:-  ARCTIINAE
Genus:- Aloa
Species:- marginata




Below are some possible synonyms. Be aware there is a possibility they may be incorrect. Such is the nature of the internet!
Synonyms (some)
    Paramsacta marginata
    Phalaena marginata
    Aloa marginata
    Areas roseicostis
    Areas punctipennis
    Amsacta flaveola
    Paramsacta pura
    Amsacta eurymochla
    Bombyx marginata
    Amsacta marginata simplicans
By the way, it can also have a common name of "Donovan's Tiger Moth" having been named by a (Mr)Donovan in 1805.



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Wednesday 17 February 2016

Final Anthelid Moths

The last two weeks have been about Anthelid moths. This week is the last of the ones I see around  our property. 
They are still Anthelid moths but are different species.





Family:- ANTHELIDAE
Sub Family:-  ANTHELINAE
Genus:- Anthela
Species:- ferruginosa







 Family:- ANTHELIDAE
Sub Family:-  ANTHELINAE
Genus:- Anthela
Species:- varia  (Possibly)





  



 Family:- ANTHELIDAE
Sub Family:-  ANTHELINAE
Genus:- Anthela
Species:- repleta  (Possibly)






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Wednesday 10 February 2016

More Anthelid moths

Following on from last week, these moths are constant visitors to our place. Being difficult to name is no reason for avoiding putting them on the blog.
These ones are quite possibly the same species as last week,(Wednesday, 3 February 2016), but when indentifying them, I found I could not be certain.

Family:- ANTHELIDAE
Sub Family:-  ANTHELINAE
Genus:- Anthela
Species:- Sp





 Anthela Sp ANTHELIDAE 0719 on  - 7439










 Anthela Sp ANTHELIDAE 2852 on -5370










Anthela Sp ANTHELINAE ANTHELIDAE 0822 on  - 7520









 Anthela Sp ANTHELINAE ANTHELIDAE 2834 -5356





 



 Anthela Sp ANTHELINAE ANTHELIDAE 2853 -5372





 




ANTHELIDAE ANTHELINAE  Anthela Sp 1303 - 7840





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Wednesday 3 February 2016

Family Anthelidae

Although I have done two previous posts of the Anthelidae family, (Monday, 4 May 2015 and Wednesday, 25 November 2015), in view of their variability, I will add a good selection of photos over the next couple of weeks to have them grouped for comparrison.

The family Anthelidae have over 70 species in Australia. They are restricted to Australia and New Guinea. The moths I am putting in these posts belong to the sub-family Anthelinae, of which there are a some 50 plus species in Australia.
The larvae of Anthela feed on Acacia. They are also known to cause Urticaria, (severe itching and rash), if handled. (See the blog article Wednesday, 25 November 2015 ).

The photos I have not been able to positively identify have file names instead of the usual Family, Sub family, and so on. However I am fairly sure they all belong to the Genus Anthela. Where I am moderately sure of the species name I have included the name in the file name next to the photo.
The four photos below are:-

Family:- ANTHELIDAE, 
Sub Family:-  ANTHELINAE, 
Genus:- Anthela, 
Species:- Acuta

 


 Anthela acuta ANTHELINAE ANTHELIDAE  8413 on - 3284




 Anthela acuta ANTHELINAE ANTHELIDAE 2915 -5403






 Anthela acuta ANTHELINAE ANTHELIDAE 9349 on -3715



                                                                                                    



 Anthela acuta ANTHELINAE ANTHELIDAE 3117  on - 0766










Anthela acuta ANTHELINAE  ANTHELIDAE  4731 on -1570001





More next week.

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