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Wednesday 3 January 2018

Hypena masurialis

Hypena masurialis HYPENINAE EREBIDAE

Was:- Hypena subvittalis HYPENINAE NOCTUIDAE
Identification was a little difficult for this moth. Lepidoptera.butterflyhouse has a sample that looks like a good match that is named Hypena subvittalis with a synonym of Hypena rhynchalis, but BOLD systems has a number of samples of H. subvittalis that do not look like a match at all, and no samples of H. rhynchalis.
Further searching led me to a site that had a reasonable match named Hypena masurialis, and BOLD systems samples under that name are mostly a very good match. Samples have also been taken in this area.
The host plant listed for H. masurialis is Commelina cyanea (COMMELINACEAE), "WANDERING SAILOR" or sometimes "Wandering Jew" or "Scurvey Weed".  The local variety, however,  is Commelina diffusa and is so similar that there have, in the past, been some differences of opinion as to whether they are the same plant.  Commelina diffusa  is a common plant here and so is most likely to host our moth.
Further information on the plants can be obtained by going to the "Toowoomba plants 2008" blog site, a link is provided in the right margin of  this BLOG and enter the plant in the search box at the top of the page.






Family:- EREBIDAE
Sub Family:- HYPENINAE
Genus:- Hypena
Species:- masurialis









This is a common at rest pose, with the wings tucked in to the body and forming a high peak.

















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