Alice Springs Fauna •
Alice Springs MothsAustralian Striped Hawk Moth (Hyles livornicoides) Bag-shelter Moth & Processionary Caterpillar Chasmina pulchra (White Beauty) Cossid Moth (Endoxyla leucomochla) Godart’s Hawkmoth (Agrius godarti) Helicoverpa punctigera (Australian Fruitworm) Laced Day-Moth (Ipanica cornigera) Leptocneria binotata Mocis alterna (Bean Looper Moth) Owlet Moth (Eudesmeola lawsoni) Owlet Moth (Ophiusa parcemacula) Sameodes cancellalis (Banded Pearl) Yeperenye / Yipirinya
Belonging to Eudesmeola, which is a monotypic moth genus (“monotypic” describing a genus with a single species), Eudesmeola lawsoni is commonly known as the Owlet Moth and the Lawson’s Night Moth.
A member of the family Erebidae (erected by George Hampson in 1926), the species Eudesmeola lawsoni was first described by Felder and Rogenhofer in 1874. It is commonly found in the arid inland regions of Australia, although Atlas of Living Australia have listed observations around Australia, including Tasmania.
We assume it is the same moth found deceased a couple of days later less then a metre from where it was originally seen within an apartment.
- Scientific classification
- Kingdom: Animalia
- Phylum: Arthropoda
- Subphylum: Hexapoda
- Class: Insecta
- Informal: Pterygotes
- Order: Lepidoptera
- Unranked: Ditrysia
- Superfamily: Noctuoidea
- Family: Erebidae
- Subfamily: Erebinae
- Tribe: Catocalini
- Genus: Eudesmeola
- Species: Eudesmeola lawsoni
Footnote & References
- Many thanks to Ben Kurek for ID, member of Butterflies, Moth and other Invertebrates of Australia, https://www.facebook.com/groups/170745013686340/
- Eudesmeola lawsoni (R. Felder & Rogenhofer, 1874), Owlet Moth, Atlas of Living Australia, https://bie.ala.org.au/species/https://biodiversity.org.au/afd/taxa/65da4cb2-b431-408e-acb8-f480fd3c5679
- Lawson’s Night Moth (Eudesmeola lawsoni), ausemade, iNaturalistAU, https://inaturalist.ala.org.au/observations/206919204
Alice Springs MothsAustralian Striped Hawk Moth (Hyles livornicoides) Bag-shelter Moth & Processionary Caterpillar Chasmina pulchra (White Beauty) Cossid Moth (Endoxyla leucomochla) Godart’s Hawkmoth (Agrius godarti) Helicoverpa punctigera (Australian Fruitworm) Laced Day-Moth (Ipanica cornigera) Leptocneria binotata Mocis alterna (Bean Looper Moth) Owlet Moth (Eudesmeola lawsoni) Owlet Moth (Ophiusa parcemacula) Sameodes cancellalis (Banded Pearl) Yeperenye / Yipirinya
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