5 Golden Sun Moth at O'Connor, ACT
Identification history
| Synemon plana | 13 Nov 2025 | MichaelMulvaney | ||
| Synemon plana | 13 Nov 2025 | MPhillips |
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Significant sighting
MichaelMulvaney noted:
13 Nov 2025
1st record of the season - always good to know when people can start looking - and not that often recorded from O'Connor
3 comments
AMR
wrote:
14 Nov 2025
First report of a female for the season, excellent! Can you confirm the date of the sighting (rather than date of identification)? The first sightings this season from the consultant/government/researcher data sharing were a few males on 3, 6 and 7 November, with more males already reported today (14/11).
MPhillips
wrote:
14 Nov 2025
Hi AMR
We saw the female Golden Sun Moth yesterday the 13 November at 5.11pm. It was found in a wide strip of mulch where volunteers were doing planting in Magpie Hill Park in Lyneham. While the mulch does not appear to be a Sun Moth habitat, the park has not been mowed recently and lots of grasses and forbs as well as African Love Grass are flowering and growing around the mulched area. Perhaps this was what the Sun Moth was looking for? Or it was very windy and it was blown from the grassy areas onto the mulched areas? Lots of questions.
We saw the female Golden Sun Moth yesterday the 13 November at 5.11pm. It was found in a wide strip of mulch where volunteers were doing planting in Magpie Hill Park in Lyneham. While the mulch does not appear to be a Sun Moth habitat, the park has not been mowed recently and lots of grasses and forbs as well as African Love Grass are flowering and growing around the mulched area. Perhaps this was what the Sun Moth was looking for? Or it was very windy and it was blown from the grassy areas onto the mulched areas? Lots of questions.
AMR
wrote:
14 Nov 2025
Thanks for information, first recorded female then. Good to hear that the mulching isn't in a GSM habitat area, I had been concerned about that while driving past. Females tend not to move far from the point of emergence, but that late in the day could have done so as they fly better when most eggs have been laid. However, if mulch has been placed over habitat in the last few months it is possible that late-stage GSM larvae might pupate then emerge through it. Though Unlike Chilean Needlegrass, African Lovegrass is not known to be a GSM larval food and is currently one of the worst invaders of the native ground layer, good luck with reducing its cover.
Location information
- Maps Magpie Hill Park, Lyneham
- Places O'Connor, ACT
Sighting information
- 1 Abundance
- MPhillips Recorded by
-
Collections
MPhillips NatureMapr Canberra & Southern Tablelands Synemon plana Significant Queanbeyan-Palerang Animals To Watch! NSW Government Priority Species ACT threatened species Sun moths (Castniidae) Moths (Lepidoptera) Insects
Additional information
- Moth was disturbed as we were planting in a mulched area in Magpie Hill Park in Lyneham. Park has not been mown rece3ntly and lots of grasses and forbs are flowering. Associated plant
- 25mm to 50mm Animal size
- Female Gender
Species information
- Synemon plana Scientific name
- Golden Sun Moth Common name
- Not Sensitive
- Vulnerable *
- Non-invasive or negligible
- Up to 702m Recorded at altitude
- External link More information
Record quality
- Images or audio
- More than one media file
- Verified by an expert moderator
- Nearby sighting(s) of same species
- GPS evidence of location
- Description
- Additional attributes