Last night a quite large moth (a little worse for wear) was attracted by the light to the kitchen window, which enabled a photo of the underside. Although not very good it was the only chance before it was disturbed by a smaller moth and flew off.
Outside I found it on the verandah ceiling and was able to get a quick photo with the light from my phone before it was on the move again.
The upper view seemed familiar not instantly recognised, but I was hopeful of getting a better photo to use for ID and as luck would have it the moth landed back on the window and I was able to get a flash photo.
The seemingly black wingspan of around 60mm was transformed into beautiful colours and patterns of a species that I recorded almost 2 yrs ago. It Is one of the Noctuidae family, subfamily Catocalinae, species Donuca lanipes common name Zigzag White Banded Noctuid. It ranges through tropical Northern Territory and Queensland south to central NSW with a few stragglers to southern NSW. It is not very common and little is know about the larvae food source or the biology of the species.
Oh gosh!! What a beautiful moth - from all angles :) A great find.
ReplyDeleteIt was a real surprise when I looked at the flash photo to see just how much more was shown of the colours and the patterns. Interesting to speculate on the eyespots and the white band looking like a mouth being a scare defense:)
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