Epicoma contristis

1 Yellow-spotted Epicoma Moth at Red Hill, ACT

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Identification history

Epicoma contristis	7 Jan 2020	GlennCocking
Epicoma contristis	6 Jan 2020	ibaird
Unidentified	6 Jan 2020	roymcd

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5 comments

donhe wrote:

7 Jan 2020

How do you distinguish E. tristis from E. contristis?

ibaird wrote:

7 Jan 2020

Good question. Moths of Victoria ( two pages on the supporting disc to part 2) provide guidelines for separating the 5 Victorian species of Epicoma. The sexes are different and the rules they provide rely (in part) on knowing whether you have a male or a female. They say E. contristis and E. tristis are in their'dark-winged sub-grouping along with E. pontificalis. The white-winged group are largely night flying and are attracted to lights, especially the males. The dark-winged subgroup are rarely attracted to light but rest openly on vegetation during the day. In dark-winged males E. constristis the dark area around the discal spot is diffuse compared to E. tristis where it is confined. The ground colour almost black in E contristis, whereas the ground colour in E. tristis has a brownish tinge. E. constristis and E. tristis are both said to have a wingspan over 30 mm, whereas E . pontificalis has a wingspan únder 32 mm', but also that species has a neat yellow forewing dot. uniformly mottled forewing, and an orange thorax distinguishing it from E. tristis and E. contristis. In the dark-wing females the dark area around the discal spot appears to be diffuse in E. tristis but confined in E. contristis (the reverse rule to the above). On these criteria I'm happy that this is probably E. contristis. PS perhaps we should review all our IDs of Epicomis in the light of these rules.

GlennCocking wrote:

7 Jan 2020

I don't think we can I photos, and it is uncertain even with specimens, should keep them together

owenh wrote:

7 Jan 2020

It appears the labels have been reversed on the images for the E. tristis and E. contristis females on the Moths of Victoria 'Separating Epicoma' page on the CD. The species pages for each (MoV2(2) CD) show images for both males and females as alike (not reversed) re the discal spot area id.

ibaird wrote:

7 Jan 2020

Thanks Owen.

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