Bronze Heath Moth
S23, Female, Forewing Artefact
Bronze Heath Moth
S26, Male, Hindwings
Animals
Plants
Info
| Bronze Heath Moth S23, Female, Forewing Artefact | | Bronze Heath Moth S26, Male, Hindwings | | ||
Animals Plants Info |
 | Class: | Animals (Animalia) - Jointed Legs (Arthropoda) - Insects (Insecta) | ||||||||||||
| Order: | Butterflies & Moths (Lepidoptera) | |||||||||||||
| Family: | Geometer (:Geometridae Oenochrominae) iNaturalist Observation | |||||||||||||
| Species: | Bronze Heath Moth (Tapinogyna perichroa)| This Photo: | S16, Female, Hindwings | Thank you Axel Kallies for identifying and Peter Marriott, Ethan Beaver & Marilyn Hewish for helping with the id of this species for us General Species Information: Found on Ellura (in the Murray Mallee, SA) and elsewhere Males are ~10mm long, with wingspan of 25mm. Female bodies are a bit shorter at ~8mm long, but with the same wingspan as the male. The under-wings don't appear much different between the genders, but the ventral shots show the significant difference in the body shapes; with males being long & thin, females short & fat. Marilyn kindly let us know this was not Amelora catacris; emergence time is important in moth identification. We also thought others were Taxeotis, but over time become uncomfortable with this id. Peter then said "... Taxeotis only have threadlike antennae - females and males. Nearcha - males pectinate on both sides and females threadlike". They were quite variable and photo artefacts played havoc. eg notice the white spots hide easily depending on the camera/lighting angle. The bronze colour also washed out easily in flash light. The females we found appeared to have stronger markings than males; this may not always be the case. These beautiful moths range from plain, pale brown to a magic bronze colour. We have grouped the photo's by male & female, to show differences between specimens. They are a difficult lot and all the males we have are missing a diagnostic ventral tuft of Nearcha. Ethan recently found & id'ed Tapinogyna perichroa. Interestingly some the hind wings of our specimens look more rounded. It's possible there are different species shown in this sequence of photo's. The bipectinate antennae of the males makes separation of species easier; not so for the females. This group of moths is in bad need of revision and with luck research will be conducted on them one day to clearly differentiate them all. Similar Species: Orange-spotted Taxeotis (Taxeotis xanthogramma)
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