Amelora (genus)

1 Nacophorini at Jagungal Wilderness, NSW

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Identification history

	Amelora (genus)	14 Jan 2023	donhe
	Amelora (genus)	13 Jan 2023	Pirom

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User's notes

Feeding on Hakea flowers. Similar appearance, but not range or habitat to A. belemnophora

8 comments

ibaird wrote:

13 Jan 2023

I agree, the similarity in wing pattern with A. belemnophora is strong, but that is apparently a dry country western Vic, SA species. I have found no direct match in wing pattern for this specimen looking on the ALA, iNaturalist or on Bold Systems. (Bold Systems has several striped unnamed species but none look quite the same to my eye. ). It may be local unnamed Amelora species. It does not seem to directly match the other known and names striped alpine Amelora spp.
However, this moth does look identical to this record from Sawpit Creek, Mt Kosciousko by dfischer described its as 'Amelora (genus)'.
https://biocache.ala.org.au/occurrences/f62a8f02-9fbb-47f1-88dc-e20cf8a789bd
Interestingly dfischer also notes the similarity with A, belmnophera!
Should we therefore name this sighting as species 'Amelora undescribed species'? - or something similar?

ibaird wrote:

13 Jan 2023

See also Reiner Richter's similarly identical record, also it appears from an alpine location in SE NSW:
https://biocache.ala.org.au/occurrences/db0d0401-b82a-4524-82af-5247410efcb4
It wpuld appear that this therefore is perhaps an unnamed or undescribed alpine Amelora (genus).
It would be intersting to see whether ANIC holds examples of this Amelora species, named or otherwise.

Pirom wrote:

13 Jan 2023

Thanks. Yes those records certainly look like it. Obscurity interesting given it’s quite showy and day-flying. It would interesting to see if it’s named in ANIC if this is likely at all rather than calling it undescribed.

donhe wrote:

14 Jan 2023

The Checklist lists 39 named Amelora species in Australia, whereas BOLD only illustrates 26 of these, so this could be one of the 13 unillustrated named species.

GlennCocking wrote:

14 Jan 2023

While the forewing pattern has tempting similarities to Amelora belemnophora (and to some Loweria species), it also has clear differences. There is no other more similar Amelora species in the ANIC collection. While some Amelora are quite widespread, I can’t think of one that flies and feeds openly during the day in the highlands. I don’t think this is from Amelora (or Loweria).

donhe wrote:

15 Jan 2023

Nola species?

ibaird wrote:

15 Jan 2023

I haven't found a match online in Nolidae. In my opinion the forewing closely matches the two other sightings on the ALA from similar alpine sites, called 'Amelora (genus)' - but of course that's not taxonomy!

ibaird wrote:

15 Jan 2023

There is also 'Amelora sp. 1' identified as such by Moths of Victoria on their supporting disc to the Nacophorini (Part 5) recorded from East Gippsland and the Otways, The female of that species has a similar but lighter forewing pattern overall, but described as having a sharper apex to forewing and a straighter costa. Both these features fit this specimen I think. It also has a distinct dark central line to the thorax (illustrated on the disc) which corresponds with the ALA examples. MoV also say their species also occurs in NSW. I remember reading somewhere that its not unusual for moths to show darker colouring (melanism) with altitude. See page Amelora sp,1(2) on the supporting disc to Part 5.

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