Moth (Lepidoptera) field guide

Useful references:

• CSIRO's Australian National Insect Collection (ANIC) - Australian Moths Online
• Don Herbison-Evans web pages:
  • Moths of Australia
  • Australian caterpillars and their butterflies and moths

In the notes provided about individual species, semi-technical terms are sometimes used.  They are briely explained below.

Labial palpi.  These are paired appendages extending from the lower part of the head, on either side of the proboscis.  They provide important information about the family of the moth.

Parts of a moth’s wing:

  Costa:  The leading edge of the wing

  Inner margin:  The trailing edge of the wing

  Termen:  The outer margin of the wing, connecting the costa to the inner margin

  Apex:  The leading tip of the wing, where the costa and termen meet

  Tornus:   The trailing corner of the wing, where the termen and inner margin meet

  Cilia.  Long hairy scales along an edge of the wing

Unplaced monopthalma (A Clothes moth (Tineidae))

Unplaced nectarea (Unplaced nectarea)

Unplaced phloeopa (Scalloped Bark Moth)

Unplaced psammochroa (Stripey Plutellid)

Unplaced robusta (Unplaced robusta)

Unplaced squamulata (Scaled Carpet)

Unplaced suasaria (Unplaced suasaria)

Male

Female

Female underside

Unplaced tetramera (A Geometer moth)

Unplaced trigramma (An Erebid moth (Catocalini, formerly Boletobiinae)

Uraba lugens (Gumleaf Skeletonizer)

Male

Female

Uraba sp. (maybe Uraba deplanana)

Uresiphita ornithopteralis (Tree Lucerne Moth)

Underside

Larva

Urolitha bipunctifera (An Emerald moth)

Urostola magica (A Geometer moth (Ennominae))

Utetheisa (genus) (A tiger moth)

Utetheisa lotrix (Crotalaria Moth)

Utetheisa pulchelloides (Heliotrope Moth)

Shows 5 red spots on the trailing forewing edge clearly

Vacuana vacuana (A Tortricid moth (Tortricinae))

Vanicela xenadelpha (Roeslerstammiidae, Tineoidea)

Vinicia gypsopa (Phycitinae)

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