Furcatrox procera
Ochre-rimmed Cape-moth at O'Connor, ACT
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| Furcatrox procera | donhe | 28 Mar 2020 | |
| Furcatrox procera | ibaird | 27 Mar 2020 |
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User's notes
Attracted to UV Lepiled light at night.
4 comments
28 Mar 2020
Moths of Victoria (MoV) Part 5 provides detailed guidelines and a visual key for Furcatrox species on the disc accompanying Part 5. According to Furcatrox2.pdf I am suggesting this sighting is one of three named species, either F. procera, F. serrula or F. pervaga because these 3 species show an ochre coloured costa with dark markings which is visible on this specimen. I suggest its probabaly F. procera because the discal wing spot is distinct, not faint and is black, not red-brown in colour. Further, of these three species, Bold Systems shows only F. procera as having a mainland rather than a Tasmanian distribution which is characteristic of all except two named species i.e (F. synclera and F. procera).
2 May 2020
I’m doubtful about Furcatrox. They are generally plain dull grey scaled moths with a few darker markings, but with the colourful patterned costae. There are other species in the early part of the Ennominae taxonomy have colourful patterned costae and with forewing scaling that is richer coloured, more like this photo. They include Cassythaphaga macarta and Amelora nephodes, arotraea and catacris. These Amelora have light hindwings, I think more so than Furcatrox, but I’m not sure how white the hindwings in this flash photo would be in real life. My best fit would be Amelora nephodes, but this is far from a confident identification.
2 May 2020
In suggesting Furcatrox I was persuaded by the overall shape of the forewing with its distinct ''shoulder' to the line of the costa near the base and the slightly wavy forewing and hindwing margins - the wavy feature being present in the Furcatrox species on the ALA and Bold Systems 4, but not it seems to me, present in the Amelora species I can see online. I was struck by the similarity of my specimen with the forewing pattern visible for F. procera on the Furcatrox2.pdf. While F. procera was not a named species with photos on the ALA there were specimens visible on Bold Systems 4. A further supporting feature for me was the distinct fine detail of wavy wing margins which shows fine double parallel lines on the wing margins - a feature present in this specimen and for F. procera on Bold Systems 4. I don't think the forewing markings match the pattern of the Cassythaphaga/Amelora macarta specimens I can see online.
Location information
- Coordinates 149.113205-35.259433
- Altitude 202.4m
- Places O'Connor, ACT
Sighting information
- 1 Abundance
- 26 Mar 2020 08:50 PM Recorded on
- ibaird Recorded by
- 12mm to 25mm Animal size
- Male Gender
Collections
- ibaird Canberra & Southern Tablelands NatureMapr Furcatrox procera Geometer moths (Geometridae) Moths (Lepidoptera) Insects
Species information
- Furcatrox procera Scientific name
- Ochre-rimmed Cape-moth Common name
- Not Sensitive
- Local native
- Non-invasive or negligible
- Up to 202.4m Recorded at altitude
- External link More information
Record quality
Quality score
6 / 7
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