Moths April 2018

The moths are still flying here in Canberra, and the autumn flying species are beginning to show. As with previous months, I have posted here a brief selection of species I saw when out trapping moths with Glenn Cocking on Black Mountain last week. Glenn also identified them for me.

This first one, above and below is Chenuala heliaspis, a robust species with a good covering of 'hair' and splendid spreading antennae.

Some of these shots were taken of the moths on the white sheet which the lamp was shining on, others were of moths that landed on nearby trees or shrubs. To attain true colours, it is important to shield the moths from the lamp light and use a flash to freeze all motion.

Proteuxoa cinereicillis - what are the little spikes on its legs for?

Agriophara sp? If this one wasn't aligned squint with the bark it would be virtually invisible.

Achyra affinitalis - what lovely long legs this one has, and spectacular large eyes for such a slim body and head.

Utetheisa pulchelloides - the heliotrope moth.

Hednota sp - a long slim body, well about 1 cm, with distinctive stripes along the folded wings and long slim antennae.

And this was the champion of the night, as far as size matters. A male White-stemmed Gum Moth Chelepteryx collesi. A full 14 cm wingspan.

February moth survey

Sandava scitisignata 

The February moth survey in the ACT was held in the forested hills of Namadgi in the south of the territory about 65 km from the Black Mountain survey site and the centre of Canberra city. Once again, I am indebted to Suzi Bond for organising the weekend-long trip and to Glenn Cocking and Ted Edwards for identifying all the moths I photographed.

The moths were attracted to a light and lured to land on a nearby sheet of white fabric spread vertically next to the lamps. And some would land on nearby trees, where I took most of these photographs. This was all in forest without another light to be seen other than the stars above. The night was still and quiet apart from the background clicking of insects. Night-time in the bush, great.

The following are just a sample of the many moth species we found, and I have chosen this set for the individual features described. They are not in any taxonomic or rarity order.



Entometa sp. I like the broad and colourful antennae this moth has, and its 'furry trousers'.

Euproctis baliolalis is another furry species, seen here blending in well with the hairy lichens on a tree stem.

A specimen of Abantiades latipennis hangs from the same tree as the moth above. Its body is pink, but always hidden by folded wings when landed.

A bi-coloured beauty, shy to show its face Acyphas semiochraea. 

Not all moths landed on the sheet or trees. This one preferred to land on the nearby ground, still in the lamplight, but in enough shadow to be easily missed and trod upon. Well it is rather well camouflaged as a fallen leaf, Monoctenis ballerina. 

Many of the species we trapped had furry bodies. The fur is of course modified scales as moths do not have hair. It can be cold in the hills, especially at night in summer or any time of day or night outwith. So, these furry coats would help keep the frost off the moths delicate bodies. This Lomera boisduvalii has a furry collar to its coat. 

I never knew what to expect to appear next under the lamps, the variety of shapes and colours seemed endless. Phaeophlebosia furcifera.

What a tiger, Tigrioides alterna. Think small, look close, whenever you go out at night. 

January Moths on Black Mountain


This is a post to continue my partial coverage of the moths surveyed at Black Mountain. It is only a sample of the moths attracted to the lights set last week by Glenn (see previous monthly posts for details and comparisons). The little beauty above, was the first one I saw this time. It is a Pink Arhodia Arhodia lasiocamparia.


In profile, its colouring fitted well, striking, against the black night behind.


Yet on a substrate of peeling bark, its colouring did not seem so bold and in daylight would be difficult to spot. The caterpillars feed on gum eucalyptus leaves, of which Black Mountain has 800 ha, so they must be well fed. Wingspan 6-7 cm.



This was my favourite of the evening as I am always fascinated by how well animals can conceal themselves by shape, colour and posture against their background habitat's colour and form. In this case, leaf and bark litter on the forest floor. This is Antictena punctunculus.


Even the frayed hind edges of its wings blend in with the broken edges of the fallen leaves.
Wingspan 4 cm.


Not all the moths were attracted to land on the white illuminated sheet, many landed on nearby trees, especially the smooth-barked gums, like this specimen of a Cleora sp. This is a species of looper, so named because the caterpillars loop their body into a high arch when crawling. Wingspan 5 cm.


Then there was this late contender for favouritism, an Epicoma sp., possibly the male of the species below, Epicoma contristis. 


This was the Epicoma contristis female, she is silver while the males are darker, hence the reason why I think the former sample might be a male of this species. The caterpillars of this species are of the classic dark grey, bristling, hairy type. Wingspan 3cm.


The Epicoma have fantastic head 'hair' it completely covers their face. I don't know the purpose for this hair, and everything in nature has a purpose - thermoregulation in the cool Canberra nights? It is just so illuminating to discover what lives in the woods and how variable moths are in colour and form.

Another wonderful night on the mountain.

Scribbly Gums

A rich mix of old and young trees in Black Mountain forest

I have noticed that there have been many more features on wildlife than wildpaces lately in the blog, so I shall try to adjust this. First off, this gave a reason to go for a walk in one of the local forests, the 500 ha Black Mountain Nature Reserve, which is only two kilometres from Canberra city centre  The woodland is dominated by two eucalyptus tree species, Scribbly Gum Eucalyptus rossi and Red Stringybark E. macrorhyncha, and the under story is mostly a sparse covering of grasses and short shrubs. The trees provide thousands of cavities for such animals as possums and parrots - especially Crimson Rosellas, while I often see swamp wallabies and echidnas working through the undergrowth.

Wild forest in the foreground - urban high-rise only a mile away

There are numerous tracks to follow through the forest and multiple variations of routes to take. On today's walk I went around the summit and looked down onto the city. And I noticed how, even the city looked green with the street and park trees shining between the buildings.

A zoomed-in view of Canberra city from Black Mountain

Now that it is late summer, some species of eucalypt trees have shed their outer layers of old bark to reveal shiny new skin. The Scribbly Gums do this but not the stringybarks.

This fine old Scribbly Gum has large and small hollows,
 it is a true veteran, yet is still throwing up young branches from its old trunk.

The cast bark lies thick on the ground in some places, giving homes and shelter to all sorts of animals, but it can build up deep enough to become a fire hazard and Canberra, as the bush capital, is well aware of the danger of bush fires. So there are regular burn-offs of the ground cover over the years to prevent such a risk.

Shards of bark lie about the base of the gum trees, their inner surface glowing red in the sunshine

The Scribbly Gum is named after the marks on its bark, which are especially noticeable when the bark is freshly cast. These scribbles are the marks of where a species of moth larvae, Scribbly Gum Moth Ogmograptis scribula, have meandered safely beneath the old bark layer, while munching on the fresh growth immediately below. To find out more on the moth and its larva, click here to a link to the Australian museum website.

The zig-zag trail left by a scribbly gum moth larva - its journey began at the thin end of the trail, where the adult moth had laid her egg. The trail ends at the thick end where the larva emerged and crawled into a crevice to form a cocoon. The  adults emerge in the autumn.

Autumn Pond

It is autumn now in Canberra - a very fine time to be there. The above photograph received an honourable mention in a recent fun photography competition ran by the local radio station ABC 666 - the judges loved the images, and the stories sent in with many of the pictures. My image is of a sculpture in Commonwealth Park, set in a small pond surrounded by non-native deciduous trees, which add the colour. I inverted the photograph to show what I see when I look beyond the obvious straight image.