Senecio Moth
S10, Male, dorsal
Ellura
Senecio Moth
S9, Female, hindwings
 
                      
Senecio Moth (Nyctemera amicus)Class: Animals (Animalia) - Jointed Legs (Arthropoda) - Insects (Insecta)
Order: Butterflies & Moths (Lepidoptera)
Family: Tiger Moth (:Noctuoidea Erebidae)     iNaturalist Observation
Species: Senecio Moth (Nyctemera amicus)
This Photo:     S9, Female, dorsal

Thank you Don Herbison-Evans for identifying and Alan Melville for confirming the id of this species for us

General Species Information:
Found on Ellura (in the Murray Mallee, SA), the Adelaide Hills and elsewhere
Adult females have a wingspan of ~44mm, and are ~15mm long. We haven't measured a male as yet. Larvae measured up to ~24mm long, generally black (or grey) with 3 orange longitudinal stripes. Young instars are black & white with no orange stripe, nor tufts (but still hairy). Intermediate instars have black & orange with areas of white patches which confuse the overall pattern. They are very hairy with 2 tufts of hair at the front which look like antennae or horns. You can see the hairs also have barbs/hairs on them. They feed on various varieties of senecio (hence their species common name)
A day flying moth, the adult wings are mainly black with white/cream blotches making a diagonal, thick line on the wings. Their bodies are orange & black horizontally striped (leading to the "tiger moth" common name of the family). They have orange highlights behind the head and on the wing tips (cilia).
Male & female adults can be differentiated by their antennae. While both are bipectinate (2 rows of filaments), the male pectinations (filaments) are longer and more spread than the females; as shown in the photo's.
We have seen adults in Apr, May, Jun, Aug, Oct, Nov & Dec.

Copyright © 2016-2024 Brett & Marie Smith. All Rights Reserved. Photographed 31-Aug-2016
This species is an Australian Native Species, not listed in the SA Murray Mallee Survey of 2010.