Chlenias banksiaria group

A Geometer moth at Ainslie, ACT

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Identification history

Chlenias banksiaria group	18 Jan 2021	GlennCocking
Chlenias banksiaria group	15 Nov 2018	ibaird
Chlenias nodosus	14 Nov 2018	donhe
Chlenias nodosus	14 Nov 2018	ibaird
Unidentified	8 Nov 2018	jb2602

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9 comments

donhe wrote:

9 Nov 2018

size?

jb2602 wrote:

9 Nov 2018

About 25mm

ibaird wrote:

9 Nov 2018

I'm not sure that this is N. pleurosema because the head shape seems to be different (not blunt looking) and the base of the antennae are not visible as they are in all the images of this species that I can see on the ALA and LBH.

donhe wrote:

9 Nov 2018

Yes: I am not convinced of the ID as Nola pleurosema.
Turner describes Nola pleurosema as having a dark mark along the forewing costa, and this specimen just has three dark costal spots. But to me the forewing tips of this specimen look a little too pointed for it to be a species in Epipaschiinae, in which there are another bunch of grey moths with streaky forewing patterns.
Also Nola pleurosema has a wingspan of about 2 cms, which is a bit smaller than this specimen.

ibaird wrote:

14 Nov 2018

How about a female Chlenias nodosus? Its faint, but I think I can see the y shaped venation in the forewing

GlennCocking wrote:

15 Nov 2018

I've only just realised the report is from May. I think it's a female of the usual C. banksiaria.

ibaird wrote:

15 Nov 2018

If the timing of the observation in May may be regarded as definitive for C. banksiaria I would be happy to go with that, although I would be hard pressed, given the variation visible, to distinguish between a C. banksiaria female from a C. nodosus female on appearance alone. However I note that this specimen seems to lack the strong bold black line nearer the trailing edge of the forewing which is visible on at least two of the images of C. banksiaria females which can be seen on Bold Systems 4. Identified images of C. nodosus on BS4 seem to lack this bold line. I also note that the authors of MoV (Part 5) define the "'C. banksiaria group'' as including the species C. nodosus.

GlennCocking wrote:

15 Nov 2018

I wasn't trying to say May distinguishes banksiaria and nodosus, they both fly then and not now. I had been thinking the report was of a spring moth. The females of these two sp are indeed similar. I'll compare them at ANIC.

GlennCocking wrote:

16 Nov 2018

C. nodosus are generally more heavily patterned than C. banksiaria, particularly the males and less so the females. Some C. banksiaria females are quite plain grey, with some darker scaling along the veins. I think this specimen is one of the C. banksiaria group.

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