Wednesday 23 November 2011

Moth artistry

The more I look at moths (until recently I really only paid attention to large "in your face" species) the more fascinating I find them. The huge number of species (over 20000 in Australia compared to the relatively small number of butterflies, almost 400) show such amazing diversity in form, colour, patterns and texture. Two very different  moths that I found in the past couple of days are examples.; the first a small moth with such a striking colour scheme Heliosia juncunda ( or perichares, they look very similar)

The second a larger moth (I think Hylaeora caustopis) that has just such amazing texture resulting from the mass of hairs around the head and legs.

2 comments:

  1. Its fascinating to see some of the Australian moth species in your photos. I love the yellow and black colouration of the first one.

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  2. Certainly a striking moth although it was only about 1cm long.

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