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Anestia ombrophanes
An oval shaped open-weave cocoon made from the hairs of a very hairy caterpillar. After the wingless female moth has pupated she emerged to lay her tiny, pearly eggs all over the matrix and died when finished. In some photos the remains of the pupal sheath can be seen within the cocoon. The whole structure is about 25mm long. The last pic 2 days later shows her up on the cage face down abdomen up. The abdomen was slowly waving in the air.
On a Corymbia maculata trunk in a local nature reserve.
http://bie.ala.org.au/species/Anestia+om...
Update! I checked her out 2 days later and she was still alive and had traveled all of 30mm and climbed on top of the cage. I suspect her previous eggs are infertile as she's still trying to get a mate by waving her abdomen around in the air. How many eggs left?
Male moth was spotted here http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/215...
Caterpillars hatching here http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/868...
35 Comments (1–25)
congrates on the spoting
Well done Mark, identified and with good information as always.
congratulations. this is surprising. you have many stars.
Congrats on SOTW!
Congratulations Mark! A winner all the way.
Congratulations, Mark!
Congratulations Mark ! It is an exciting spotting.
Congrats!
Thanks so much everyone for the SOTW. I'd like to think she would feel it was all worthwhile. Thanks James and Satyen.
Congrats again Mark! Way to go buddy!
Congratulations Mark!
Thanks Annie :)
Congratulations!
Wow thanks for the good words everyone. This has been a fascinating story to research and learn about. I sort of feel sorry for her a bit but... each species to their own I guess. Added links to caterpillars hatching and male moth.
What an artist! Oh you too Mark, congratulations on another great photo and series.
Unbelievable! What a find.
This is incredible! Epic find!
Mark, this is one of the most fascinating animal structures I've seen on PN. Beyond the beauty of the structure, reading about the moth and the process was also very cool. Thanks for sharing and providing such rich details and congrats on having this selected as Spotting of the Week!
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Amazing find, Mark.
WOW...
great spotting and info, Mark. May she find a mate!
Fantastic :)
What an interesting spotting - the update makes it even more interesting.
Your spotting has been nominated for the Spotting of the Week. The winner will be chosen by the Project Noah Rangers based on a combination of factors including: uniqueness of the shot, status of the organism (for example, rare or endangered), quality of the information provided in the habitat and description sections. There is a subjective element, of course; the spotting with the highest number of Ranger votes is chosen. Congratulations on being nominated!
Thanks Antonio, Bill, James.