A worldwide community photographing and learning about wildlife
Project Noah Nature School
Ardices canescens
A severe case of thanatosis.
These clean looking moths make it simple to get underneath shots by remaining completely still for up to a minute if upturned.
About 40mm long, mostly white with many dark spots and a striking flash of vermilion around the thorax.
Attracted to powerful night lights above a car at a national park.
One of the few species I have found whose larvae can feed on Tradescantia which has become a noxious weed around here. Useful insect.
Formerly included in Spilosoma, but later generic status of Ardices was proved. The larvae are polyphagous
family: ARCTIIDAE
subfamily: ARCTIINAE
http://bie.ala.org.au/species/urn:lsid:b...
Spotted on Oct 24, 2014
Submitted on Oct 25, 2014
2 Comments
Thanks. I found another of this genus and it did the same thing. So cooperative.
It looks like a brilliantly colored puppy waiting to get its tummy tickled. Nice series