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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

March 2016 - Yorkeys Knob (1 Viewer)

Right a slightly large update with ten posts to try and clear March! It did start to slow down mid month and numbers dropped further but that said it was still good and I have probably another 2000 images yet to be ID'd so my backlog is getting ever large..... anyway on with the moths
Sphingidae Part I
Good selection of Hawks throughout the month. Here are a few of the highlights:
Daphnis moorei - the scarcer of the two Daphnis that i catch, this wa only my fourth this year
Daphnis placida - the commonest of the Daphnis species and one that turns up regularly at the light
Eupanacra splendes - a species that I only catch a couple of times a year so was very nice to catch this fresh individual
Gnathothlibus eras - this is clearly a female (swollen abdomen) so the lack of hairs on the front legs is not diagnostic as the females of neither of the two species I catch have "hairy" legs. My ID based on size and checked with a far more experienced Sphingidae collector
Gnathothlibus australiensis - this is a male (long thinner abdomen) so the lack of hairy legs is diagnostic in this case!
 

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SPINGIDAE Part II

Hippotion velox - one of the scarcer Hippotion species in the garden so great to see a fresh individual
Macroglossum dohertyi - this was one of my target species for the year and I have exceeded my expectations and caught five individuals, making it the most frequently recorded Macroglossum this year (so far...)
Macroglossum micacea - there was a small emergence of this species as I caught three individuals in the space of a week
Theretra indistincta - aside from being a worn individual this is slightly odd in that it does not show the diagnostic pink antennae. Speaking with a contact he is interested in looking at this one in detail and so any more that i catch will be retained and sent to Jean to determine if the lack of pink is significant
Theretra margarita - the most frequent of the three small Theretra species recorded this month with peak count of three
 

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Part III of the update.

Hulodes caranea (Catocalinae) - never a regular visitor to the garden this is the second that I have seen in Yorkeys in 2016 - unfortunately both have been rather battered
Ischyja manlia (Catocalinae) - my second species of this large genus inside ten days. These are predominantly fruit eaters and do not regularly come to light so after catching this one I placed a mixture of fruit at various locations around the garden for the next three weeks and not a single moth of any species visited it!
Synthereta escarlata (Satrunidae) - thanks to another Synthereta fanatic have had all my Synthereta records looked at and re-identified as escarlata
 

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Part IV

Calliteara farenoides (Lymantriidae) - a regular visitor throughout the second half of the month.
Casbia albinotata (Ennominae) - the Casbia are rapidly become a genus similar to Cleora...one to dread! This is a nice obvious species - one of the few that are!
Casbia rectaria (Ennominae) - a common and exceedingly varied visitor to the garden and one of several similar species - so I may well be missing some!!
Ectropis bhurmitra (Ennominae) - never common but I did see this quite distinctive species regularly towards the end of the month
Eudocima salaminia (Calpinae) - having not seen this species prior to this year this has been the commonest Eudocima in the garden with a further two more in the second half of the month
 

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Part V

Cosmogona decorata (Geometrinae)- a scarce visitor to the garden, recorded just once in March
Oenochroma decolorata (Oenochrominae) - only the second time I have caught this moth
Pingasa angulifera (Geometrinae) - a new species of Pingasa for the garden
Pingasa blanda and Pingasa chlora - the two common pingasa in the garden with blanda (on the left) being recorded almost daily in the last week on March
Serrodes campana (Catocalinae) - only the second time I have caught this moth in the garden and as is often the case there were two individuals that night
 

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Part VI

Anigraea ochrobasis (Eutelinae) - it took me several weeks to connect the "open winged" moth with the rolled winged version! A frequent visitor during the Wet recorded a couple times each week throughout the month
Helicoverpa assulta (Heliothinae) - the Helicoverpa seem to be an autumn / winter visitor here so this was the first that I had recorded for several months; it appeared regularly from late in the month
Leucania yu (Noctuinae) - I have only caught this a couple of times before so it was nice to see this mid month
Phazaca nr corrasa (Epipleminae) - I have caught this moth several times over the last few weeks and had with reference to a couple of Australian based webpages ID'd it as Phazaca decorata but with the publication of the Uraniidae pages on the excellent Papuan Insect Foundation website I am now not certain as to its ID. Ph.decorata does indeed show the white on the hind wing that these show but in that species the edge of the white is undulating not smooth where as in corrasa the edge appears smooth; plus decorata does not show the apical tail that these individuals do. More work will be needed to determine exactly what species these Australian Phazaca are - of course since I have been looking at them I have not caught another!
Xanthodes transversa and Xanthodes emboloscia (Bagisarinae) - X. transversa (on left) is an almost daily visitor to the light at the moment and initially I thought that the moth on the right was just a well marked transversa until I looked at it more carefully and realised that it was the similar species X.emboloscia! Since realising my mistake I have found that I am catching this species a couple of times each week and a couple of my old photos of transversa from last year are in fact this species!
 

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Part VII

Eublemma leucodesma (Boletobiinae) - this species (and the next) is apparently quite scarce and rarely trapped. Mid-month there was clearly an emergence locally as I was catching them daily for a bout a week with peak of four in one night
Eublemma lozostropha (Boletobiinae) - peak count for this apparently scarce species was three on the same night as I caught four of the previous species
Eublemma roseana (Boletobiinae) - only the second individual of this species that I have caught, the pictures do not do it justice as it is a stunning little moth
Hemonia micrommata (Arctiinae) - only the second one I have caught
Maliattha amorpha (Boletobiinae) - this was new to me this month and having caught the first one it became a regular feature at the light appearing almost daily for about ten days
 

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Part VIII

Callyna leuconota (Amphipyrinae) - not a common species in the garden with just a handful of records, I caught three individuals of this mid month a very nice run of records
Micropatetis ANIC1 (Acontiinae) - after a short absence from the trap this known unknown re-appeared towards the end of the month and was seen daily in small numbers thereafter
Oeonistos altica (Arctiinae) - an infrequent visitor to the garden this is the third I have caught this year.
Periopta diversa (Agaristinae) - an infrequent visitor to the garden
Stictoptera signifera (Euteliidae) - this is the second species of Stictoptera in the garden this year; this species was thought to be restricted to New Guinea so it has either undergone a major range expansion in recent years or has just been missed in FNQ
 

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Part IX

Conogethes haemactalis (Spilomelinae) - of the several species of Conogethes I catch in the garden this is one of the les frequently encountered ones so is always nice to see
Nacoleia amphicedalis (Spilomelinae) - a new species for the garden this month
Nausinoe pueritia (Spilomelinae) - only the second of this very attractive species that i have caught and this first in 2016
Orthaga seminivea (Epipaschiinae) - one of the more distinctive members of this confusing family and one that I have caught a couple of times recently; this individual was very well marked.
Prophantis adusta (Spilomelinae) - one of several similar species.
 

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Part X

Cryptaspasma brachyptycha (Olethreutinae) - this tort was new to me and is one of the very few that I have been able to ID to species. I caught it twice in the second half of the month
Elusa ceneusalis (Hadeninae) - an infrequent visitor to the garden nearly always twoards the end of the Wet; this was the first record for 2016
Epicrocis pulchra (Phycitinae) - one of the few colourful members of this family; I catch this once every couple of months so not a particularly common species here
Heliothela ophideresana (Heliothelinae) - within Australia this family is apparently rarely caught; this was certainly a new species and genus for me. I only caught it once mid month
Ocrasa chytroides (Pyralinae) - a new species for me although its place within Pyralinae taxonomy seems to be being reviewed (it is treated as a synonym of Hypsopygia).
 

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