Halone coryphoea
Eastern Halone moth at Wanniassa, ACT
Identify this sighting
| Halone coryphoea | ibaird | 15 Nov 2017 | |
| Halone coryphoea | ibaird | 14 Nov 2017 | |
| Unverified | JohnBundock | 12 Nov 2017 |
Please Login or Register to identify this sighting.
7 comments
13 Nov 2017
I could find only one photographed set specimen of H. sobria on BOLD Systems 4, sourced from Tasmania. H. sobria seems not to be a species that Moths of Victoria Part 2 recognises and I do not think their image of Halone sp. (1) (-a high alpine sp..:Mt Bogong, Charlottes Pass, collector: Ted Edwards) - on a supporting CD, or the BOLD systems image, matches this image.. However, I think this image to my eye quite closely matches H. coryphoea, Eastern Halone; see the other images so identified on CNM and on the ALA. Is there any diagnostic reason to favour H. sobria and not H. coryphoea?
15 Nov 2017
Sadly Hampson makes no comment about the differences between his H. coryphoea and Walker's H. sobria, but his drawings of the two species, see
http://lepidoptera.butterflyhouse.com.au/arct/coryphoea.html
and
http://lepidoptera.butterflyhouse.com.au/arct/sobria.html
show muted tones in the forewing patterns of H coryphoea, and a greater contrast between tones in H. sobria. The high contrast matches John's photo better.
I have yet to understand the DNA groupings in BOLD. Do these indicate that there are actually 2 different species? It is tempting to think that there is only one species with variable wing patterns, in which case H. sobria would be the senior synonym.
http://lepidoptera.butterflyhouse.com.au/arct/coryphoea.html
and
http://lepidoptera.butterflyhouse.com.au/arct/sobria.html
show muted tones in the forewing patterns of H coryphoea, and a greater contrast between tones in H. sobria. The high contrast matches John's photo better.
I have yet to understand the DNA groupings in BOLD. Do these indicate that there are actually 2 different species? It is tempting to think that there is only one species with variable wing patterns, in which case H. sobria would be the senior synonym.
15 Nov 2017
We in government, I know, use the Australian Faunal Directory (AFD) as our authority and source of information on speciation.for legislative purposes. My reading of the AFD suggests there are two distinct species recognised. H coryphoea and H. sobria. The AFD indicates H. sobria is confined to Tasmania while the AFD gives H. coryphoea's distribution as the ACT, NSW and Queensland. The AFD entry for H. sobria gives the taxonomic auithority for this distimction to Edwards, E.D (1996) see the AFD entry here:
https://biodiversity.org.au/afd/taxa/Halone_sobria.
The 1996 date suggests to me this taxonomic decision would have been unlikely to have been made supported by DNA evidence, but I may be wrong.. I suggest we recognise two distinct species and identify this specimen as H. coryphoea.
https://biodiversity.org.au/afd/taxa/Halone_sobria.
The 1996 date suggests to me this taxonomic decision would have been unlikely to have been made supported by DNA evidence, but I may be wrong.. I suggest we recognise two distinct species and identify this specimen as H. coryphoea.
1 Dec 2017
The two similar Halone species that we should watch out for are H. sinuata which is probably present in the ACT and the high altitude sp that Ian referred to above that might be reported from the high Brindabellas. The three species are most readily separated on hindwing pattern, which doesn't usually show in photos. Separating on forewing pattern alone will be harder.
Location information
- Coordinates 149.093230-35.393525
- Altitude 642.3m
- Places Wanniassa, ACT
Sighting information
- 1 Abundance
- 12 Nov 2017 05:18 PM Recorded on
- JohnBundock Recorded by
- 12mm to 25mm Animal size
Collections
- JohnBundock Canberra & Southern Tablelands NatureMapr Halone coryphoea Tiger moths (Arctiinae) Moths (Lepidoptera) Insects
Species information
- Halone coryphoea Scientific name
- Eastern Halone moth Common name
- Not Sensitive
- Local native
- Non-invasive or negligible
- Up to 1410.27m Recorded at altitude
- External link More information
-
Synonyms
Halone coryphoea
Record quality
Quality score
5 / 7
- Images or audio
- Verified by an expert moderator
- Nearby sighting(s) of same species
- GPS evidence of location
- Additional attributes
- More than one media file
- Description