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Project Noah Nature School
Doratifera oxleyi
The male painted cup moth was much smaller than the female with a wing span of only 20 mm. It was however just as attractive having thinner blue-black wings and orange tufts of scales on the thorax. Pale setae on the legs and abdomen tip stood out in stark contrast to the dark wings.
The males had beautiful feathered antennae.
Spotted in a nature reserve with mixed natives-Burnt Bridge Reserve
These small moths were seen hanging head down on all sorts of vegetation and there were a few of them in the area. They appeared to be "sleeping" and tolerated quite a bit of handling.
This species is seen in NSW, Victoria, Tasmania & South Australia.
Family: Limacodidae
Spotted on Mar 23, 2018
Submitted on Mar 24, 2018
3 Comments
We were excited to see these Martin. The male moths were numerous and spotted on the east side of Lake Tyers. At Marlo itself, we only found females. It was nice to get away from all this dry although Gippsland was only slightly greener.
A nice find. I do not think I have seen the adult moth before. There are interesting species to be found in the foothills from here to Eden which are range extensions for northern species and likely to produce some new species.
Photos No. 1, and 2: are two, beautiful photos....