Suhpalacsa sp. (genus)

Owlfly at O'Connor, ACT

Suhpalacsa sp. (genus) at O'Connor, ACT - 31 Dec 2016
Suhpalacsa sp. (genus) at O'Connor, ACT - 31 Dec 2016
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Identification history

Suhpalacsa sp. (genus) 5 Jan 2017 RogerF
Suhpalacsa sp. (genus) 1 Jan 2017 ibaird
Unidentified 1 Jan 2017 ibaird

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User's notes

Owlfly (Family Ascalaphidae). Species recorded in the early evening, fitting commentary I read elsewhere that owlflies prefer to fly in the late afternoons and at night. The long clubbed antennae signal its not a dragonfly or damselfly. I suggest Suhpalasca sp. The images seem to match closely those on the Atlas of Living Australia and online elswhere for S. flavipes, the Yellow Owlfly.

4 comments

ibaird wrote:
   3 Jan 2017
An owlfy (Suhpalacsa sp.) has already been reported at Black Mt., see Farrow (2016), p.208, photo Tony Wood, but looks different to this animal (male vs female?).
ibaird wrote:
   6 Jan 2017
RogerF. Thanks. Did you consider whether this could be S. flavipes, the Yellow Owlfly? The yellow wingspots and the yellow tipped antennae just below the clubbed end sugested to me it might be.
RogerF wrote:
   6 Jan 2017
There are 15 species of Suhpalacsa and Tim New is probably the only person that can identify them and probably needs specimens. It is quite possible that your specimen is S. flavipes.but I would not like to commit to this, perhaps Kim knows?
KimPullen wrote:
   10 Jan 2017
Agree with you Roger. Probably difficult to be sure of the species without a specimen to examine.

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Sighting information

  • 1 Abundance
  • 31 Dec 2016 05:30 PM Recorded on
  • ibaird Recorded by

Additional information

  • 25mm to 50mm Animal size
  • Unknown Gender

Species information

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