Tropical Grass Webworm
Herpetogramma licarsisalis
-33.3817, 151.484
Field Notes
Habitat:
Extremely prolific species of moth at this time of year-nocturnally found among grasses and shrubs behind an oval in a suburb by the sea and close to farms, swamps, rainforests etc. Grasses are rarely disturbed and knee to waist high and include high percentages of Cobbler's Pegs and Paspalum
Notes:
# crambid moth a march 14. This is one of a group of moths caught during a nocturnal sweep of a patch of grass and shrubs. To my memory they looked mostly white when they were found clinging to grass stems and mostly at knee height. That might explain the difficulty with an actual identification. The numbers are dropping quickly as the nights cool into autumn. The moths appear as white kite shapes on the grass stems and have shiny red eyes that can be seem for some distance in torch light. The next night after a rainstorm the moths were above the grass flying in their thousands. Very beautiful sight in the torch beam!
Identified from 'A Guide to Australian Moths' Paul Zabrowski and Ted Edwards
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