Insects
Moths (Lepidoptera)
Geometer moths (Geometridae)
Sighting 4479352

Mnesampela privata

Autumn Gum Moth at Isaacs, ACT

Mnesampela privata at Isaacs, ACT - suppressed
Mnesampela privata at Isaacs, ACT - suppressed
Mnesampela privata at Isaacs, ACT - suppressed
Mnesampela privata at Isaacs, ACT - suppressed
Mnesampela privata at Isaacs, ACT - suppressed
Mnesampela privata at Isaacs, ACT - suppressed
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Identification history

Mnesampela privata 30 Mar 2023 MichaelMulvaney
Mnesampela privata 17 Mar 2023 RogerF
Unverified 16 Mar 2023 Mike

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9 comments

donhe wrote:
   17 Mar 2023
@Mike : did you photograph the animal that laid these eggs?
Mike wrote:
   17 Mar 2023
I never saw the eggs being laid. In fact, I didn't see the eggs until I brought the leaves home to feed some beetle larvae. The eggs have not hatched yet (I have had them four days).
donhe wrote:
   17 Mar 2023
So at this stage, we have evidence that they are even animal? There are plants that grow nodules on their leaves that appear to be simulated eggs, apparently to deter real moths from laying real eggs on them.
Mike wrote:
   17 Mar 2023
Photos added to show these are eggs in stacked pairs.
donhe wrote:
   17 Mar 2023
Great. Probably animal then: maybe Isopoda or Mollusca ?
donhe wrote:
   30 Mar 2023
@Rogerf : why M. privata?
RogerF wrote:
   30 Mar 2023
I studied M. privata in the 80's when there were massive outbreaks on eucs with glacous juvenile ro adult foliage, such as the Argyle Apple, and egs masses were present on leaves everywhere in autumn. Pictures published in leaflet No 1 by CSIRO 1991. It woud be easy to find the eggs next month on juvenile foliage of eucs like rubida, bridgesiana and macarthuri.
donhe wrote:
   31 Mar 2023
Terrific, thanks.
Mike wrote:
   8 May 2025
Larvae never hatched from eggs. However, I have checked after seeing similar photo in Horne and Crawford "Backyard Insects", and found that tiny wasps had emerged, https://canberra.naturemapr.org/sightings/4667704.

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Location information

Sighting information

Additional information

  • Less than 5mm Animal size
  • Eggs Breeding behaviour

Species information

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  • More than one media file
  • Verified by an expert moderator
  • Nearby sighting(s) of same species
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