that moth - and a good reason to take a holiday on the Barrier Reef [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]

Hello,
We've covered this fairly exhaustively,
 but I'm forwarding a short summary from Ted Edwards, CSIRO  Entomology
Canberra, about the moth Lindsay was asking about and which we saw on the
COG Cowra trip at Easter.  It suggests a spare-time project that might
lead to some interesting birding locations too!
Muriel E



This is Utetheisa pulchelloides
in the family Arctiidae. The larvae feed on boraginaceous herbs including
Echium (Paterson's Curse), borage and heliotrope.  The
bright speckled colours of the moth are a sure sign that it is poisonous
and in fact it sequesters pyrrolizidine alkaloids from its larval foodplants. 
The bright colours and poisons have resulted in a large number of extremely
similar species around the world. A classic case of Muellerian mimicry.
 
In Australia, U. pulchelloides
is found on boraginaceous herbs, mostly in northern Australia but in good
seasons spreading south commonly throughout the mainland. Another almost
identical species is found throughout the north but rarely found south
of  about Brisbane. The larvae of this feed on the pea genus Crotalaria
which, it is no accident, also contains pyrrolizidine alkaloids.
There is also a suite of species
around the northern coast of Australia and into the Pacific Islands which
feed on Messerschmidia argentea (or whatever the current genus is)
a common strand plant mostly on off shore islands.  These need much
more study but in spite of repeated attempts no scientifically useful collections
of these have been made from the islands of the Great Barrier Reeef. Anyone
planning a holiday on the islands could do useful work collecting these
moths but the collections need to be comprehensive as several species may
occur together.
 
Cheers,
Ted.

---

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

---

Moth ID

from [Lindsay Hansch]

[Permanent Link][Original]

To:	"COG-L" < m("canberrabirds.org.au","canberrabirds");>>
Subject:	Moth ID
From:	"Lindsay Hansch" < m("netspace.net.au","lindsayrhonda");>>
Date:	Mon, 3 May 2010 20:10:56 +1000

I know this is not a bird – but it flies.  I photographed this moth at Cocoparra National Park on Saturday.  My research indicates a Crimson Speckled (Utetheisa pulchella) but I can find no indication that it exists in Australia.  Indeed its usual range is shown as Mediterranean Europe to Africa and Middle East.  However, I found records on the web of it occurring in the UK and West Indies so anything is possible.  Can anyone shed any light on it.

Lindsay Hansch

Attachment:

*

To:	"Lindsay Hansch" < m("netspace.net.au","lindsayrhonda");>>, "COG-L" < m("canberrabirds.org.au","canberrabirds");>>
Subject:	Moth ID
From:	Julian Robinson < m("internode.on.net","julian.robinson");>>
Date:	Mon, 03 May 2010 21:33:01 +1000

Lindsay  - this moth gets a fair bit of attention from COGers!    I and several other COGers have photographed it at different times, with the same question.  It was identified (probably courtesy Steve Holliday) as a Heliotrope Moth Utetheisa pulchelloides and this seems to be generally agreed.   It's a Tiger Moth although it doesn't look like one to me.

Family:          Arctiidae
Subfamily:       Arctiinae
Genus:   Utetheisa
Tribe:          Callimorphini

Moth ID

from [Julian Robinson]

[Permanent Link][Original]

To:	"Lindsay Hansch" < m("netspace.net.au","lindsayrhonda");>>, "COG-L" < m("canberrabirds.org.au","canberrabirds");>>
Subject:	Moth ID
From:	Julian Robinson < m("internode.on.net","julian.robinson");>>
Date:	Mon, 03 May 2010 21:33:01 +1000

Lindsay  - this moth gets a fair bit of attention from COGers!    I and several other COGers have photographed it at different times, with the same question.  It was identified (probably courtesy Steve Holliday) as a Heliotrope Moth Utetheisa pulchelloides and this seems to be generally agreed.   It's a Tiger Moth although it doesn't look like one to me.

Family:          Arctiidae
Subfamily:       Arctiinae
Genus:   Utetheisa
Tribe:          Callimorphini

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ozjulian/2365161748/ my photo with some discussion about occurrence
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kookr/2367812088/  David Cook's photo, closer and more detail
m("N00/4469649806/","//www.flickr.com/photos/50364443");" eudora="autourl"> http: m("N00/4469649806/","//www.flickr.com/photos/50364443");> Stuart Harris's photo just recently.
http://www.brisbaneinsects.com/brisbane_tigermoths/HeliotropeMoth.htm   even closer, and some info.

It does seem to be an Autumn moth because all the photos that appeared on flickr were taken about Easter, +/- .
Then again as I say that I see the above last-linked site says "early to late summer".  Maybe in the Flickr-noted year there was an outbreak of them in Autumn. Or maybe Autumn here in the south, summer in the north.

There's scads of info on the net. My detailed post is because I've been discussing this moth with another member on recent trips, and been meaning to get the info together.

from [Bron King]

[Permanent Link][Original]

To:	"Lindsay Hansch" < m("netspace.net.au","lindsayrhonda");>>, "COG-L" < m("canberrabirds.org.au","canberrabirds");>>
Subject:	Moth ID
From:	Bron King < m("pcug.org.au","bronking");>>
Date:	Tue, 04 May 2010 00:50:38 +1000

Hi Lindsay

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bronking/4459888794/in/set-72157623157081406/
Utetheisa pulchelloides taken in Dunlop and also recently in my Melba Garden

Discussion about species here http://www.insectnet.com/dcforum/DCForumID2/2518.html

cheers
Bron

from [John Layton]

[Permanent Link][Original]

To:	"Canberra Birds" < m("canberrabirds.org.au","canberrabirds");>>
Subject:	Re moths: Utetheisa spp.
From:	"John Layton" < m("bigpond.com","johnlayton2");>>
Date:	Tue, 4 May 2010 11:06:21 +1000

Zborowski & Edwards A Guide to Australian Moths p. 82 advises  that Utetheisa pulchelloides is widely distributed in northern Australia and often reaches Southern Australia in large numbers where it feeds on Paterson’s Curse. I believe I’ve seen the odd individual around my place, and it is probably the species that Geoffrey Dabb photographed during the Easter weekend at wherever.

John K. Layton

Holt.

 _____________________________________________________________________________________________
--
This message contains privileged and confidential information only 
for use by the intended recipient.  If you are not the intended 
recipient of this message, you must not disseminate, copy or use 
it in any manner.  If you have received this message in error, 
please advise the sender by reply e-mail.  Please ensure all 
e-mail attachments are scanned for viruses prior to opening or 
using.

*******************************************************************************************************
This is the email announcement and discussion list of the Canberra 
Ornithologists Group.
Please ensure that emails posted to the list are less than 100 kb in size.
List-Post: <>
List-Help: <>
List-Unsubscribe: <>
List-Subscribe: <>
List archive: <http://bioacoustics.cse.unsw.edu.au/archives/html/canberrabirds>
List manager: David McDonald, email 
<>