The rain moths cometh.
Apr 13th, 2009 by Duncan
With autumn here I’ve been waiting for a decent drop of rain to bring the big moths out of their underground tunnels. We had a couple of light falls that produced nothing, but the heavy rain band that moved through the other night certainly did the trick. While sitting at the computer something hit the window with a thump, the signal to put the moth light out. Within half an hour there were four big Hepialids in, three male Trictena atripalpis, and one that was nearly half as big again. I think it’s possibly a female atripalpis, they can be larger than the males, but I need that to be confirmed. Male nocturnal moths find mates by using their antennae to detect pheromones emitted by females. Pectinate antennae shown in this close up of a male are much more efficient than simple antennae as they sample a greater volume of air.
The big lady landed low down on a veranda post but kindly consented to climb on to my hand for this picture. Click both pictures to enlarge.
