Wednesday 28 January 2015

It's raining moths

The evening storms are most welcome, even though they are often accompanied by power outages. Monday's storm brought almost 60 mm of rain and a three hour blackout. The lack of electricity* is not a big problem. But it does create a small problem — the combination of unscreened windows + torches** = your own private cloud of insects.

This trio of moths were among my personal insect menagerie. They are all large, but not as large as the Hercules moth that flew into my head torch in the rainforest at Paluma. It might not have been a Hercules moth. It might have been a Hercules aeroplane.There's a remote chance I said something intemperate at the time, as one is inclined to do when a turboprop-powered saturnid smacks into one's head. These three moths were more polite and fluttered around a bit.

The usual caveat about moth IDs apply. I don't know my moths, so if any/all of these IDs are wrong, please let me know.

Speiredonia spectans (Noctuidae)

Spirama recessa (Noctuidae)

Donuca ?rubropicta (Noctuidae)


* Apart from the lightning

** Flashlights, not flaming brands or welding tools