Moths of Toowoomba

400 Moth Species

After a couple of re-counts and some re-naming, I find I have now put photos of 400 species on this Blog.
As stated in the "about" page, these photos are of moths solely from our 1 Hectare block just north of Toowoomba in Queensland Australia. A large number of the moths are breeding here on the many local native species that we have in the garden, and are regularly seen, some are short term visitors, some are temporary "blow-ins" and are only seen occasionally.

Most of the photos are taken of live moths on a large window in our lounge room, and are attracted to the normal house lights, not the powerful actinic lights or Mercury lights often used. I sometimes use a very small UV "party" light to help keep the moths on the window while being photographed.
Some tiny moths are captured in an "aquarium", which is 2 lens filters screwed together. Amazingly, some are still able to fly in this restricted space. Once photographed they are released.

The current severe drought, (since 2014) has affected the number of moths, while still getting a good variety. I expect numbers to recover quickly once we get rain.

This is not the end of the Blog. There are still quite a lot of species to go, although just how many remains to be seen, because I have hundreds of photos yet to be identified. Some will be repeats others will be new.

September 2018.

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Eulechria triferella OECOPHORINAE OECOPHORIDAE

 The genus Eulechria can be quite difficult to get a positive identification for. Many of the species look very similar visually and can only be identified with any certainty using dissection and/or DNA.
Having compared the photos of this moth with others in books and reliable sites I think this ID is probably correct.

The larval food of the Eulechria genus is frequently the dead leaves of Eucalyptus species.

Family:- OECOPHORIDAE
Sub Family:- OECOPHORINAE
Genus:-  Eulechria
Species:- triferella






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Garrha ocellifera OECOPHORINAE OECOPHORIDAE

 Wing span about 15mm.
One source quotes the larval food source as dead leaves of Eucalyptus trees while another site suggests that the dead leaves of Angophora species are the food source. I think the first comment on food source was made before some trees that had been in Eucalyptus were changed to Angophora. The sources were not dated.
They are both in the family Myrtaceae. 
Angophora is closely related to Corymbia and Eucalyptus but has opposite leaves.

Family:- OECOPHORIDAE
Sub Family:- OECOPHORINAE
Genus:- Garrha
Species:- ocellifera












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Garrha pudica OECOPHORINAE OECOPHORIDAE

The larval food source of this moth is pretty much the same as Garrha ocellifera in the post above.
They are very wide spread throughout Australia and very common.

Family:- OECOPHORIDAE
Sub Family:- OECOPHORINAE
Genus:- Garrha
Species:- pudica










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