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

Australian Moths 2018 (1 Viewer)

A few from last night
Coscinocera hercules (Saturniidae) - always a pleasure to catch these. As with 99% of my records this is a male (have only caught a single female in four years). This is my eight male of the year to date.
Euproctis actor (Lymantriidae) - a regular visitor to the sheet and one of the more readily identifiable members of this genus
Psilogramma menephron nebulosa (Sphingidae) - last night was the first night for several weeks where I have got into double figures of Sphingidae there were 13 individuals of three species. The commonest being menephron nebulosa with eight. One of the most regular Spingidae occuring regularly throughout the year
Arrhenes dschilus iris (Hesperiidae) - the Scrub Darter or Iris Skipper. Nominally a new species for the garden but I tend to only check the butterflies that come to the sheet so it is probably regular here.
 

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Dom

Thanks as always. But specifically, the Hercules Moth is pretty special!

All the best

Hi Paul.
Yes they are indeed very special - never a dull night when you catch one of these guys, on one memorable occasion I had two on the sheet and another flying around!
This one had a narrow escape, I had not closed our screen door properly when I went out to check the trap and came back to find Odin, my miniature Dachshund "playing" with it! I removed it before there was any major damage other than the loss of a tip to its tail!
 
The undoubted highlight of the night and this week was this Erebus crepuscularis (Erebidae; Erebinae) that appeared ona palm tree close to the light last night. With a wingspan of close to 12cm it is a sizeable beast and not one that I catch regularly, this is my first since June 2017
 

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There will be a prolonged gap between posts here as i am in the process of moving to remote North Arnhem land. Once.there i am not sure what trapping opportunities there will be once moved as we are moving into government housing
 
Really hope you keep on trapping. Love this thread - fabulous moths. Wish my mothing was as glamorous in my suburban garden in Newcastle. Any pics of other insects/snakes you get are great too.
 
Aaaahhh our frieght has gone missing...no moth traps....no wine glasses...drinking direct from the bottle is not elegent!
New garden is very small and not suitable for the MVs but have a smaller gecko type light that I will use if it ever turns up....most interesting nocturnal sighting so far in the two weeks we have been herebeing a large, and rather aggressive buffalo wandering down the road...think my nocturnal wanderings may be slightly restricted here!
 
Do you know if there is anyone in Cairns who has a blacklight interest/setup? I've not been able to find anyone in Tasmania, Vic or ACT--I'm now in QLD and hoping to see a few Australian moths before I head home.
 
Do you know if there is anyone in Cairns who has a blacklight interest/setup? I've not been able to find anyone in Tasmania, Vic or ACT--I'm now in QLD and hoping to see a few Australian moths before I head home.

Unfortunately not...had you been over four weeks ago would have said come round to mine but am now a fair way away from Cairns
 
Umm well my freight has arrived but not quite in the condition that it was dispatched (see photo one) insurance playing silly buggers as in some cases the item is not broken just completely missing and so they are questioning why I can't show them it...as a result there will be a further delay in my recommencing trapping as I now have to source new bulbs...not that easy here to say the least..
The second picture is of Lyssa macleayi (Uraniidae; Uraniinae) which with a wingspan of some 13cms is not exactly a small moth - this was caught in early October before the traps were packed up.
Luckily I do have a fair few more photos from this year that I have not posted so I will add a few more just to keep the thread going...
 

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My first NT moth for almost six years...this was on the wall by the back door this morning. I think it is something in Blenina (Nolidae; Chloephorinae) or an allied genus but it is not one I recognise. The closest I can see is Blenina donans but when this flew off it did not have the yellow hindwings that I usually see in donans so I am not too sure...
 

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