I have a friend who's in Cooma at this minute collecting some specimens
after the rains. Trictena atripalpis, also known as the Bardi moth.
-----Original Message-----
From: John Brannan
Sent: Tuesday, 14 April 2009 1:47 PM
To: Steve Holliday
Cc:
Subject: Large moth ID
Bingo.
/Trictena atripalpis/ it is.
The wing markings look right and the size (female) is also right.
Many thanks Steve!
John
Steve Holliday wrote:
>
> Hi John
>
>
>
> Most likely one of the swift moths (Hepialidae) or wood/goat moths
> (Cossidae) - both of these families contain some very large species. A
> swift moth may be more likely as I think a lot of them are known to
> emerge and fly in autumn, particularly after rain; the big wood moths
> (/Endoxyla/ spp) may be more likely in summer. The swift moth
> /Trictena atripalpis/ would be my guess, females have a wingspan of up
> to 16cm - have a squizz at this site and see if anything looks like
> yours - just click on the relevant family and browse the photos -
> there are some nice shots of live specimens
>
>
>
> http://linus.socs.uts.edu.au/~don/larvae/moths.html
> <http://linus.socs.uts.edu.au/%7Edon/larvae/moths.html>
>
>
>
> cheers
>
>
>
> Steve
>
>
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> -----Original Message-----
> From: John Brannan
> Sent: Tuesday, 14 April 2009 11:51 AM
> To:
> Subject: [canberrabirds] Large moth ID
>
>
>
> I know this is off-topic for COG, but can anyone ID the very large
moths
>
> that were beating themselves to death against my studio window last
night.
>
> They are the size of a small bird, with a wingspan of maybe 5-6
inches,
>
> bodies around 3 inches long and as fat as my forefinger. Generally a
>
> mottled brown colour with rather slender wings. After leafing through
my
>
> fairly useless insect book, I think that they are perhaps a type of
goat
>
> moth. They don't have the pointed abdomen of the hawk moths and they
>
> fold their wings back over their bodies at rest, rather than laying
them
>
> out flat to the sides.
>
>
>
> Thanks,
>
> John Brannan
>
>
>
> ------------
>
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>
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>
> Phone: (+612) 6258 6038 Fax: (+612) 6258 6238
>
>
>
>
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>
>
>
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--
------------
John Brannan
Canberra, Australia
Email:
Phone: (+612) 6258 6038 Fax: (+612) 6258 6238
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