Grey Nearcha Moth
S2, Male, Black Face
Ellura
Grey Nearcha Moth
S2, Male, Scale Patch
 
                      
Grey Nearcha Moth (Nearcha dasyzona)Class: Animals (Animalia) - Jointed Legs (Arthropoda) - Insects (Insecta)
Order: Butterflies & Moths (Lepidoptera)
Family: Geometer (:Geometridae Oenochrominae)     iNaturalist Observation
Species: Grey Nearcha Moth (Nearcha dasyzona)
This Photo:     S2, Male, Black Face Hidden

Thank you Prof Victor W Fazio III† for confirming the id of this species for us

General Species Information:
Found on Ellura (in the Murray Mallee, SA) and elsewhere
~13mm long & ~36mm Wingspan.
A very pretty moth with a wavy line of black dots, shadowed with a brown band. They have a stunning black face, that isn't always visible.
Males have a couple of elongated patches of long, backward facing scales under the hingwings.
There can be variations in the intensity of the black dots such that they can join into a line. As well as how black the brown shadow is (from darker to ours, to almost non-existant). The same is true for the wavy line on the hindwings.
According to Peter Merriot, in Moths of Victoria, digital supplement "Comparision of Nearcha", the pattern of this tuft is diagnostic.

Copyright © 2017-2024 Brett & Marie Smith. All Rights Reserved. Photographed 25-May-2017
This species is an Australian Native Species, not listed in the SA Murray Mallee Survey of 2010.