Acute Point Moth
Ventral
Ellura
Flame Geometrid
S2 Male, dorsal
 
                      
Flame Geometrid (Paramelora lychnota)Class: Animals (Animalia) - Jointed Legs (Arthropoda) - Insects (Insecta)
Order: Butterflies & Moths (Lepidoptera)
Family: Geometer (:Geometridae Ennominae Macariini)     iNaturalist Observation
Species: Flame Geometrid (Paramelora lychnota)
This Photo:     🔍S1 Male, dorsal🔎
Synonym: Paramelora ammophila

Thank you LifeIsAmazing for confirming the id of this species for us

General Species Information:
Found on Ellura (in the Murray Mallee, SA) and elsewhere
Head & body ~11mm, wingspan ~14mm.
Males are obviously bipectinate (ie very long pectinations), while females are filiform and have a tendancy to loose antennae.
This species is very variable in both line shape and colour. Notice in S7 the dark line towards the back of the wing is much flatter than the other specimens. Similarly S8 appears almost hairy compared to the others. Looking at the DNA bin for this species on Bold, we can see that a number of different species (even Dichromodes) are found in this bin (ie so close to be considered one species). As such, the variation is extensive; far more than shown here. Atlas still shows P. ammophila as a species, yet no records for it. Perhaps the DNA work has thrown into question their placement and work needs to be done to properly understand what is going on.

Copyright © 2013-2024 Brett & Marie Smith. All Rights Reserved. Photographed 27-Aug-2013
This species is an Australian Native Species, not listed in the SA Murray Mallee Survey of 2010.