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Project Noah Nature School
Opodipthera astrophela
Gum moth, around 10cm across wings. Prominent 'eyes' on wings. Female.
My kitchen.
Laying eggs. Have seen similar species before, but not this one. Last photo is of ( dead ) male of same species. It is the more commonly seen.
Spotted on Feb 5, 2013
Submitted on Feb 6, 2013
19 Comments
Hi Jakubko, I have added thid sighting to your Moths of the World mission.
Wow! Epic capture!
What a fantastic documentation of the next generation of moths! Could you please add this moth to my mission, "Moths of the World?" Thank you! http://www.projectnoah.org/missions/8841...
That is so cool!
Fantastic! What a great spotting Abbie :)
Great spot!
For Opidiththera the bright yellow male has strong band through the forewings http://www.whatsthatbug.com/2011/02/27/g...
For Syntherata there are two lines and they are wavy. The central dot in each wing is a transparent window only in Syntherata. These are different.
How exciting - lucky you ! great spotting Abbie !!
The eggs hatch in 7 - 10 days
They are black and cats stay dark rather than turning green
http://www.pir.sa.gov.au/__data/assets/p...
some foodplants are
http://www.oznativeplants.com/plantdetai...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/koroit/5765...
http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alstonia_co...
I'm not sure about eucalyptus. Good luck
After checking some of the other sites, I'm thinking that these are both O astrophela and not Syntherata sp.
Martinl, with the eggs, how long do they take to hatch? Do they need any special care, or just leave them where they are?
What is the range for O fervida?
Here is a similar moth but I believe it occurs further north http://lepidoptera.butterflyhouse.com.au...
Fantastic!
Abbie. Male and female Opodiphthera are more similar than you suppose. Here is a image of both together- the male is yellow. http://bie.ala.org.au/species/Opodiphthe...
Your pic #3 is Syntherata (also Saturnidae). Probably S. janetta and probably also a male.
http://bie.ala.org.au/species/Syntherata...
http://www.leapfrogoz.com.au/LeapFrogOz/...
I think you should separate this pic#3 into its own spotting.
This fascinating Martin... thanks for the links.
The eggs will hatch if you are interested. They look like this
http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/869... then this
http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/165... for O. eucalypti.
Your cats would be slightly different. If you are inclined to reed these and feed them, it would be fascinating.
Thanks, martinl. I am prepared to go with O astrophela. I hadn't realised the differences between male and female. We see the male occasionally, and there was a dead male in the area I had not associated with this female - in the photo he has lost much of his vivid yellow colouring.
This appears to be an emperor gum moth but is different from the common species http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/168... There are several species and they are variable and dimirphic (at least we know its female). You may have Opodiphthera astrophela but I am not confident to call it. http://www.theinsectcollector.com/acatal... http://www.whatsthatbug.com/2011/02/27/g...