Lepidoptera

(Moths and Butterflies)

 

Butterflies

Very few butterflies were seen, possibly due to the constant rain (moths on the other hand seem to like rain: see below)

Family Nymphalidae (family that includes common crow, blue tiger, the American monarch and many others)

• Ringlet (appears from the photo most similar to rock ringlet Hypocysta euphemia, but this is more commonly found in granite or sandstone country, and the common ringlet Hypocysta etirius may be more likely)
• Common Eggfly or Blue Moon Butterfly (Hypolimnas bolina) – Asher Nicholls, Siganto Street (about 10km south of Skywalk)
• Monarch Butterfly (Danaus plexippus) – Asher Nicholls, Siganto Street

 

Moths

There is such a multitude of moth species, some of them very small, and so many similar species, the only way to seriously explore what is present is to sample them and examine them under the microscope. Thus light traps were employed on each of three nights: the entry is too small to admit larger creatures although small beetles and other insects can also enter.

A large collection from the Bioblitz is currently in the process of sorting and identification, and preliminary results are presented below.

Prof. Roger Kitching, who led the moth-collecting team, notified us on  29th October that:

Summary of moths sorted and identified so far (26 November 2017).  

All were collected from rainforest or sclerophyll forest (open forest, in this case dominated by eucalypts:”sclerophyll” means “hard leaf”)

Full details so far can be downloaded here as a 70kb pdf: Moths-Results-26-November-2017

We have now secured an additional grant from Scenic Rim Regional Council for Roger to give further training to a post-grad student and for that student to devote many hours into sorting and identifying as many as possible of the remaining moths.  He and Roger will then publish papers in the entomological literature describing those hitherto unknown to science.

See below for a brief introduction to some of the families mentioned here *

Also scroll down for photos

Family	Genus	Species	Open forest	Rain-forest
Anthelidae	Anthela	excellans	1	0
Crambidae	Palpita	limbata	1	6
Crambidae	Tetridia	caletoralis	2	0
Crambidae	Lygropia	quarternalis	1	0
Crambidae	Parotis	suralis	2	1
Crambidae	Merodictya	marmorata	0	2
Crambidae			1	2
Crambidae	Rehimena	infundibulalis	0	3
Crambidae	Maruca	vittata	1	0
Crambidae	Prooedema	incisuralis	1	0
Crambidae	Agrioglypta	excelsalis	0	0
Erebidae	Tigriodes	alterna	4	2
Erebidae	Hesychopa	chionora	2	1
Erebidae	Thallarcha	catasticta	4	1
Erebidae	Eilema	plana	2	1
Erebidae	Termessa	conographa	6	2
Erebidae	Termessa	gratiosa	2	2
Erebidae	Termessa	congrua	4	0
Erebidae	Amata	aperta	7	4
Erebidae	Grammodes	justa	1	0
Erebidae	Donuca	orbigera	1	1
Erebidae	Donuca	rubropicta	11	11
Erebidae	Pantydia	metaspila	0	2
Erebidae	Donuca	castalia	2	0
Erebidae	Parallelia	solomonensis	1	0
Erebidae			0	3
Erebidae	Laelia	sp.	2	0
Erebidae			1	1
Geometridae	Cleora	sp. 2 (Moths of Victoria)	16	2
Geometridae	Planolocha	sp.	1	0
Geometridae	Medasina	strixaria	0	3
Geometridae	Idiodes	sp.	1	0
Geometridae	Idiodes	sp.	1	0
Geometridae	Crypsiphona	ocultaria	3	1
Geometridae	Chlorocoma	sp.	3	0
Geometridae	Pingasa	cinerea	0	1
Geometridae	Hypobapta	barnardi	1	0
Geometridae	Argyrocosma	argosticta	1	0
Geometridae	Urolitha	bipunctifera	0	1
Geometridae	Sauris	lichenias	7	0
Geometridae	Epidesma	chilonaria	2	2
Geometridae	Nearcha	ursaria	3	1
Geometridae	Epidesma	perfabricata	6	4
Geometridae	Scopula		4	1
Geometridae			2	2
Lasiocampidae	Cyclophragma	cyclomela	1	1
Lasiocampidae	Pinara	metaphaea	1	0
Limacodidae	Pseudanapaea	transvestita	3	0
Noctuidae	Zalissa	catocalina	1	0
Nolidae	Armactica	columbina	1	0
Notodontidae	Neola	semiaurata	0	1
Notodontidae	Sorama	bicolor	1	3
Notodontidae	Cascera	muscosa	1	1
Notodontidae	Omichlis	hadromeres	0	2
Notodontidae	Destomia	lineata	5	0
Notodontidae	Ochrogaster	lunifer	53	23
Notodontidae	Marane	melanospila	1	0
Oecophoridae	Eulechria	?tolmera	1	0
Oecophoridae	Caroryctis	subparallela	10	0
Oecophoridae	Eulechria	sp.	1	0
Oecophoridae	Eulechria	pyrosalis	2	0
Pyralidae	Endotricha	chionocosma	1	1
Pyralidae	Endotricha	ignealis	2	5

* Families of moths mentioned above:

• Anthelidae: a family found only in Australia and New Guinea, with large caterpillars, often very hairy
• Crambidae: grass moths, very variable, usually resting inconspicuously on grass stems
• Erebidae: one of the largest families of moths, very variable
• Geometridae: these include the famous “inch worms”, caterpillars that loop along as though they’re measuring a leaf.
• Lasiocampidae: snout moths, rather large hairy moths with long mouthparts looking like long noses
• Limacodidae: cup moths, the larvae are often beautiful to look at but have painful stinging hairs.
• Noctuidae: include some pests of crops
• Nolidae: caterpillars spin silk coccons
• Notodontidae: a mostly tropical family, usually large moths with long wings,  caterpillars mostly smooth-bodied
• Oecophoridae: concealer moths (some caterpillars living between folded leaves or hollow twigs), a large family with its highest diversity in Australia and often associated with eucalyptus forests
•  Pyralidae: a large family of small moths, some of which are also known as ‘snout moths’ or ‘grass moths’ (some older classifications combine the Pyralidae and Crambidae)