Oraesia emarginata

Oraesia emarginata CALPINAE EREBIDAE

Was :- Oraesia emarginata CATOCALINAE NOCTUIDAE

This is yet another Fruit Piercing Moth. 
A very pretty moth and most of the photos of it on the internet do not do it justice.
The larval food plants include Cissampelos species (MENISPERMACEAE), and in our case it is most likely to have been Legnephora moorei (Family: MENISPERMACEAE ) known as Round Leaf Vine. If you follow the link on the right hand side of the blog to the Toowoomba Plants blog you can read a bit more about it.
 

 Family:- EREBIDAE
Sub Family:- CALPINAE
Genus:-  Oraesia
Species:- emarginata








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Oxyodes tricolor EREBINAE EREBIDAE

Was:- Oxyodes tricolor CATOCALINAE NOCTUIDAE 0843 on  - 7535

The forewing colouring and pattern are very variable, and so the moth can be difficult to identify.
The most likely larval food plants here are in the SAPINDACEAE family.

Family:- EREBIDAE
Sub Family:- EREBINAE
Genus:- Oxyodes 
Species:- tricolor








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Ophiusa parcemacula

 Ophiusa parcemacula EREBINAE EREBIDAE

Was:-  Ophiusa parcemacula CALPINAE  NOCTUIDAE
Although the larvae  have been reported of them feeding on Mistletoe ( LORANTHACEAE ), and  Melaleuca quinquenervia  (MYRTACEAE ) there seems to be some doubt about what they were actually eating.

Family:- EREBIDAE
Sub Family:- EREBINAE
Genus:- Ophiusa 
Species:- parcemacula


This was another very recent addition to the species we have found here.

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Ophiusa disjungens EREBINAE EREBIDAE

Was :- Ophiusa disjungens CATOCALINAE NOCTUIDAE

This is a moth that is fairly widely distributed. In Australia it is known in the Northern Territory,
Queensland and down into New South Wales. Overseas the larvae have been seen on Eucalyptus and other plants in the MYRTACEAE family, (Common, Moths of Australia), including Turpentine tree flowers (Syncarpia glomulifera) and Guava (Psidium guajava). They are both in the MYRTACEAE family.
The adult moth is a fruit piercing moth.

Family:- EREBIDAE
Sub Family:- EREBINAE
Genus:- Ophiusa 
Species:- disjungens

Another example of the genus Ophiusa can be seen on my blog for Wednesday, 16 December 2015.











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More Proteuxoa Moths

Proteuxoa restituta AMPHIPYRINAE NOCTUIDAE

 Once again, there seems to be little information on the biology of these moths. There are a lot of this genus in Australia and they are often difficult to tell apart, but in this case there re quite a lot of good samples of this species.
The winspan is about 40mm.

Family:- NOCTUIDAE
Sub Family:- AMPHIPYRINAE
Genus:- Proteuxoa 
Species:- restituta












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Proteuxoa (possibly) tibiata AMPHIPYRINAE NOCTUIDAE

 In close up view of this moth it shows some damage with loss of scales so the identification has to be considered less than perfect.
Again, no information on food plants etc.

Family:- NOCTUIDAE
Sub Family:- AMPHIPYRINAE
Genus:- Proteuxoa 
Species:- (possibly) tibiata












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Disappearing insects

Following my comments about the reduced number of moths we have been getting particularly over the last two years, I was amazed to see two articles that would suggest that this is far from a local problem and would appear to be not related to local climate variations.

The first was in the Guardian in 2017:-

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/oct/18/warning-of-ecological-armageddon-after-dramatic-plunge-in-insect-numbers


The second on the ABC news (Australia) on the internet:-
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-02-24/decline-in-insect-population-baffles-scientists/9481136

If this is a world wide problem it will be a major disaster. We rely very heavily on insects in all areas of our ecology.

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Two difficult moths

Although I have tried many times to identify this moth, I have not managed to achieve a satisfactory result, but I think it belongs in NOCTUIDAE.

Probably the closest resemblance that I have found is Condica macrosema.
There is still the problem that none of the samples show the distinct pinkish band on the rear wings.
Condica macrosema CONDICINAE NOCTUIDAE
Was:- Condica macrosema AMPHIPYRINAE NOCTUIDAE

Another similar moth is Pseudeustrotia macrosema. There is still the lack of the rear wing band.
Pseudeustrotia macrosema PSEUDEUSTROTIINI NOCTUINAE NOCTUIDAE
Was:- Pseudeustrotia macrosema  NOCTUIDAE
I don't think there is going to be a definite answer to this one.

Family:- NOCTUIDAE
Sub Family:-
Genus:- 
Species:-









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NOCTUIDAE Possibly CONDICINAE Condica Sp

And this moth is another moth I have not found a good match for.

Family:- NOCTUIDAE
Sub Family:- CONDICINAE (Possibly)
Genus:-  Condica (Possibly)
Species:- Sp











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Blenina donans CHLOEPHORINAE NOLIDAE

This the third new moth from last week.

Blenina donans CHLOEPHORINAE NOLIDAE

 This moth is found in India, Indonesia, New Guinea, New Caledonia, Northern Territory, eastern Queensland, Brisbane and Toowoomba.
The larval food plant is thought to be Diospyros species, EBENACEAE. Here it would most likely be our Persimmon tree, although we do have a small native Ebony.
Wing span about 40mm.

Family:- NOLIDAE
Sub Family:- CHLOEPHORINAE
Genus:- Blenina
Species:- donans

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Proteuxoa Species Moth

Proteuxoa Sp (Probably) testaceicollis AMPHIPYRINAE NOCTUIDAE

 Proteuxoa moths are particularly difficult to tell apart, but there are several very good matches for this moths that have been collected in this general area.

Family:- NOCTUIDAE
Sub Family:- AMPHIPYRINAE
Genus:- Proteuxoa
Species:- testaceicollis (Probably)











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Dry Dry Dry

Although we had some rain recently, the number of moths on the windows at night have reduced to only a few moths where in a good season we get many many hundreds of moths coming to the light at night. This is the second year we have had such low numbers.
I was therefore surprised a couple of days ago to find that there were three new species in the 10 or so moths on the window.

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ROESLERSTAMMIIDAE

NOTE:- 

Edited February 28th 2018. Thanks to Nick (see comments below), I am now able to put a name to this moth.
I previously wrote:-

"This first one I have not been able to identify. I have spent a great deal of time searching and I am still not even sure which family it belongs in. It looks as though it should be in one of the Gelechioid families but they usually have sharp up pointing palpi. For a tiny moths this one has quite large thick palpi held horizontally in front of its face."

So the name is:-

Family:- ROESLERSTAMMIIDAE
Sub Family:-
Genus:- Vanicela
Species:- xenadelpha

 The overall length was around 5mm.

After having been pointed in the right direction by Nick, the first moth I looked at was actually a sample that had been collected in Toowoomba.
This is also another new species and another new family for this place.

Thanks Nick













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Neogyne Sp ENNOMINAE GEOMETRIDAE

Edited:- Feb28 2018

I initially thought this one might belong in URANIIDAE.

 Family:- GEOMETRIDAE
Sub Family:- ENNOMINAE
Genus:- Neogyne
Species:- elongata (probably)

The species is quite variable but once again with the help of Nick (who uses the name Dustaway on Flickr) I think it is most likely N. elongata

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I will try to remember to put the third one on next week.

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