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Australothis rubrescens (♀)

Australothis rubrescens

Photo by Mark Ridgway
Published on Project Noah
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-37.8958, 145.314

Field Notes

Description:

Moth about 24mm long. Hind wings seem mostly white with a dark patch near the outer margin, The actual margin is a fine band of white, pink, blue. Thorax looks to be creamy white fur. Antennae fine simple (F?)

Habitat:

Attracted to mercury vapour lights at the local school.

Notes:

family: NOCTUIDAE <br>
subfamily: Heliothinae <br>
genus: Australothis <br>
species: Australothis rubrescens <br>
Found over most of Australia http://bie.ala.org.au/species/urn:lsid:biodiversity.org.au:afd.taxon:02… plus Norfolk Island and a few records from New Zealand. Colours can vary from bright pink to tan to pale cream. Also a pattern of spots may become clearer or be absent. This one is at least as pink as any other images on the net but has little sign of the spots displayed on some others. <br> Here's a pale spotted version http://bie.ala.org.au/repo/1013/128/1286308/largeRaw.jpg and here's another tan coloured one http://bie.ala.org.au/repo/1013/128/1285829/largeRaw.jpg <br> Thanks to Stephen Thorpe again for this ID.

Species ID Suggestions

Comments (2)

They come in many shades Martin. Check links above. But I'm starting to wonder if we are getting bright colours because these are early season versions.
That's a very nice find Mark. Rubrescens presumably means red but are they most often brown?

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