Dark Leaf Moth
Male, Hindwings
Ellura
Dark Leaf Moth
Male, ventral
 
                      
Dark Leaf Moth (Monoctenia smerintharia)Class: Animals (Animalia) - Jointed Legs (Arthropoda) - Insects (Insecta)
Order: Butterflies & Moths (Lepidoptera)
Family: Geometer (:Geometridae Oenochrominae)     iNaturalist Observation
Species: Dark Leaf Moth (Monoctenia smerintharia)
This Photo:     🔍Male, Trailing Wing Shape🔎

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
A fairly large moth at ~28mm long & 60mm wingspan.
While they can have dark stripes (and/or patches) & vary from russet red to grey, ours didn't have any stripes. It appears the specimens with heavier striping are female.
Note the unusual wing shape with a scaloped outer margin (trailing edge) and shaped more like a Ghost moth (Hepialoidea) than most geometrids.
Male antennae are also unusual as it is monopectinate (ie only one row of filaments comming off the main thread). Most large antennae like this are bipectinate (2 rows) or even tripectinate (3 rows).

Copyright © 2021-2024 Brett & Marie Smith. All Rights Reserved. Photographed 15-Mar-2021
This species is an Australian Native Species, not listed in the SA Murray Mallee Survey of 2010.