Utetheisa pulchelloides

Heliotrope Moth at Ainslie, ACT

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Identification history

Utetheisa lotrix	17 May 2020	donhe
Utetheisa pulchelloides	17 May 2020	ibaird
Utetheisa pulchelloides	17 May 2020	jb2602

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5 comments

ibaird wrote:

17 May 2020

Probably U. pulchelloides given there isa mark is is in the right place, although it looks black rather than red.

donhe wrote:

17 May 2020

The black mark is what U. lotrix has instead of red.

ibaird wrote:

17 May 2020

OK, interesting. I had assumed from the key provided by MoV that essentially there was just no spot at all in U. lotrix where the red spot occurs in U. pulchelloides.

donhe wrote:

17 May 2020

see
http://lepidoptera.butterflyhouse.com.au/arct/arct-wings.html

ibaird wrote:

17 May 2020

Don FYI. I quote what MoV says on their PDF file entitled: 'Utetheisa - Separating species": 'Males of U. pulchelloides have a pouch of hairs on the rear wing. Male antenna have short pectinations in U. pulchelloides only. There is no reliable way of separating the females. although U. lotrix lacks a red spot indicated below (i.e circled) while U. pulchelloides usually has it.' The illustration they gave for U. lotrix female to my eye doesn't show a red or black spot, rather no spot at all.- which was also true of the U. lotrix male shown too.. I must admit though I believe I have seen black spots present in that position in other specimens also. Its also not easy to be sure in many cases because the relevant part of the forewing is hidden or not in clear view.

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