Asmicridea edwardsii

Shannon Moth at Jagungal Wilderness, NSW

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Identification history

Asmicridea edwardsii	23 Jan 2023	MichaelMulvaney
Asmicridea edwardsii	20 Jan 2023	ibaird
Unidentified	20 Jan 2023	Pirom

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User's notes

Emerging from streamside grasses and sedges in evenings and also during the day and displaying in groups of up to about 100 over water. Patterning variable between individuals.

5 comments

ibaird wrote:

20 Jan 2023

Not a moth, a Caddis Fly; i.e a 'Shannon Moth'.

Pirom wrote:

21 Jan 2023

The photographed specimen joined other individuals which match more clearly A. edwardii examples on ALA in display flight.

I’ve now entered a record of one of these individuals separately on CNM.

donhe wrote:

21 Jan 2023

How do we distinguish Trichoptera from Acentropinae?

ibaird wrote:

21 Jan 2023

I am not sure. See https://canberra.naturemapr.org/sightings/3386716.
see also https://canberra.naturemapr.org/sightings/3364955.
Kim Pullen may be able to assist in distinguishing them.

Alice wrote:

23 Jan 2023

Caddisflies are distinguished from moths (Lepidoptera in general) by having hair not scales on their wings and bodies, not having an extensible proboscis (for feeding), and hold their wings 'tent-like' when resting and a suite of other less obvious features. Some of the very small moths are hairy, and lack a proboscis, but they have a very different-shaped head, and some of the caddisflies have some scales, but they are mostly tropical and have only patchy scales on wings of males. These are definitely caddisflies. Recently I saw a lot of larvae of Asmicridea in the Cotter River, below the dam. On the downstream side of rocks they construct tapered nets of silk and filter from the water the fine particular matter that they feed on.

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