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Identification history
| Anthela ocellata | 24 Sep 2023 | donhe | ||
| Anthela (genus) immature | 9 May 2022 | chriselidie |
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User's notes
I found this lovely guy walking across a bike path. It came from the direction of a couple of Eucalypts - maybe in search of a spot to pupate? It has a striking face (pictured) and short hair except for symmetrically placed bunches of long, white strands. When disturbed, it rolls up into a tight spiral, exposing broad black bands, and the white hair raised almost perpendicular to its body.
13 comments
chriselidie
wrote:
13 May 2022
Update: the caterpillar vanished below some leaf litter on Tuesday (10th May) and hasn't been seen since. I assume it has constructed its cocoon there.
chriselidie
wrote:
14 May 2022
Yes, I did take it home with me and put it in a large jar with soil, leaf litter and branches. It stayed on the "ground" and slowly disappeared into the leaf litter. I hope it will emerge as a moth at some point.
chriselidie
wrote:
21 Aug 2022
The moth emerged sometime this week. Its wings are misshaped. It has laid a clutch of brown eggs.
donhe
wrote:
22 Aug 2022
Excellent, thanks. Would it be too much to ask you to add a photo of the eggs, and of the uncovered empty cocoon?
ibaird
wrote:
22 Aug 2022
To me, Anthela basigera seems as likely, especially seeing the cater[illar looks quite like a photo on LBH.
chriselidie
wrote:
22 Aug 2022
I have now added pictures of the eggs laid yesterday and of the recovered cocoon.
donhe
wrote:
23 Aug 2022
A. basigera generally has higher contrast wing patterns, and seldom strays as far east as ACT.
donhe
wrote:
23 Aug 2022
The abdomen is not orange in sighting
Anthela ocellata (Eyespot Anthelid moth) , so not A. xantharcha. Maybe Anthela ochroptera?
Anthela ocellata (Eyespot Anthelid moth) , so not A. xantharcha. Maybe Anthela ochroptera?
donhe
wrote:
24 Sep 2023
The recurve in the forewing submarginal lines near the hind margin is like that of A. ocellata. The dorso-lateral pairs of narrow white tufts on the larva are like those of the A. ocellata larval photos on LBH. The pairs of dorso-lateral spots are rather dark in the photo of this specimen. @chriselidie: any chance they were pink?
chriselidie
wrote:
25 Sep 2023
No, there was nothing pink on neither the caterpillar nor the moth as far as I could tell. This moth was identified as A. ocellata in the second sighting I tried to link to this one (https://api.naturemapr.org/api/sightings/4441499/images/1?r=35217) - even though the "nodules" on the caterpillar were not pink, as I thought they need to be.
Sighting information
- 1 Abundance
- 22 Aug 2022 09:04 AM Recorded on
- chriselidie Recorded by
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Collections
My flagged sightings
Additional information
- None. Associated plant
- None. Associated Insect
- 25mm to 50mm Animal size
- Unknown Gender
- Larvae Breeding behaviour
Record quality
- Images or audio
- More than one media file
- Confirmed by an expert moderator
- Nearby sighting(s) of same species
- GPS evidence of location
- Description
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