possumsend's Favorites

It's an Australian invasion! Photo 7 with a compatriot infiltrating Brown Cutworm for scale. Big long moth.

I note @sebastiandoak saw one first by a few hours: https://inaturalist.nz/observations/239360014

@dr_robert @nhudson

Another successful mission. I was quite worried I'd have been condemned to wander the pubs all weekend given the weather. And worse, in between the rain is a bright full-ish moon.

Straight from camera upload in situ - will clean up/add more photos later

2nd one in last photos added here: https://inaturalist.nz/observations/232650789/

one of the more interesting moths during 'Can I find Meterana tartarea locally somewhere, at a place with loads of old huge Coprosma propinqua and other Coprosma, episode #2'

Though not quite sure what this one is...

A big highlight in a very long and disappointing night. Went so far as to haul the 6kg battery with AC to power a big MV bulb 3km down to the middle of the bog. It attracted 0 moths. The LepiLED I put up another km away in the forest barely brought in anything at all. Found this one on the way up into the forest. Plenty of Pseudowintera

ID based on likeness to this one: https://inaturalist.nz/observations/110149263

Looks like the female of Asaphodes ida! This site is in the same catchment as the type locality (Eweburn Stream, Ida Range). Caught in my latest iteration of my homemade heath moth trap along with 92 other moths in a 3-hour stint. See photos 5-6 of trap. I compared the moth trap (powered by 2 x 10 watt UV lights) to my 38 watt UV light on a white sheet. Both in similar habitat but 100 metres apart - just out of interest and because I wanted some reassurance that the trap worked OK. Rough results scribbles on photo 7. Trap seems to preform pretty well.

There doesn't seem to be any basis asides from mDNA itself for separating the three proposed species in this area, nor indications as to whether they abut or cline into each other. Tissue samples showed this one carries the 'Clade 1' mDNA lineage.

In a small swamp in wetland/scrub country, Lake Ohia district. Quite some distance inland. Very much at home in the water. It appeared to be a gravid female who had lost her tail at some point. The last photo best shows the natural colouration to the naked eye. Species level ID would be much appreciated if possible, thank you. Apologies photos aren’t great quality, they are stills from a video showing how she moves through the water.

The highlight of my night at Trotter's Gorge!!! Was delighted. A rare species I was hoping would turn up after I noted a prior record from Brian Patrick and I also found the host plant mountain carrot (Gingidia montana) growing in the area. Two of them actually came to light and were captured but I only got one photo of the underside of the second individual (last image) before accidentally setting it free prior to its photo session! Never mind, delighted with the first one!

Colour, pattern, distribution, and time of year (Sep-Nov) seem to be correct for this. Only other place I've seen them so far is Stewart Island. Night at McLean Falls. Unfortunately, still without a DSLR so had to cell phone pic it. Trying to get the best out of the cell phone photos is a bit like polishing a turd! Never mind, still some nice moths! Hope the photos are sufficient for IDs.

X marks the spot! The highlight of the night was seeing this beautiful moth arrive 2.5 hours after the lights were turned on (lights on at 6 pm, moth arrived at about 8:30 pm). I didn't know they would be at this site and wasn't expecting them to be out at this time of year either. There must be some Streblus heterophyllus in the bush. Several photos of the moth and a few of my setup and the view at the end. Great spot! Yay!!! That is Meterana species number 22 for me (incl. the undescribed 'Urtica' one).