Dark Leaf Moth
Male, Antennae
Dark Leaf Moth
Male, Trailing Wing Shape
| Dark Leaf Moth Male, Antennae | | Dark Leaf Moth Male, Trailing Wing Shape | | ||
 | 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, Hindwings | ||||
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). | |||||
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