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Fairy moth

Nemophora sparsella

Description:

A tiny moth (8mm long) with very long antennae and vivid metallic colours. Very busy burrowing around and feeding from small Leptospermum flowers.

Habitat:

Local nature reserve. Glenfern Valley Reserve.

Notes:

At last ! I've been trying to snap this little moth for a few years. They are so busy, so aware, and so small. Day flying flower feeder. Lifer.
Species ID from Ken Walker "There are two species down here: Nemophora topazias and N. sparsella. Nemophora topazias is a species from Acacia that seems to be more often seen in autumn. It can be separated from N. sparsella as it has a yellow basal spot on the forewing."
family: ADELIDAE
subfamily: ADELINAE
http://bie.ala.org.au/species/urn:lsid:b...

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8 Comments

LeanneGardner
LeanneGardner 8 years ago

Congrats Mark. He was worth the wait :)

Mark Ridgway
Mark Ridgway 8 years ago

Species changed to N sparsella (only 2 possibilities and N tapasias flies in Autumn)

Mark Ridgway
Mark Ridgway 8 years ago

Thanks for the lovely comments everyone. :)
I've adjusted the ID to genus because this one (having a yellow head) might be an undescribed. Updates to come.

sunnyjosef
sunnyjosef 8 years ago

Beautiful little moth!!! Nice spotting Mark...

LisaPowers
LisaPowers 8 years ago

Congratulations on capturing such an elusive moth! Very beautiful!

armadeus.4
armadeus.4 8 years ago

Nice one...well rewarded for your patience :D

The MnMs
The MnMs 8 years ago

I also like the colors!

VivBraznell
VivBraznell 8 years ago

What a little beauty Mark! Well worth the wait :)

Mark Ridgway
Spotted by
Mark Ridgway

Victoria, Australia

Spotted on Oct 18, 2015
Submitted on Oct 18, 2015

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