WendyEM, Moths of Victoria v8 states formosalis can be distinguished by its brown eyes. I take this specimen to have black eyes. See Phytometra laevis page 2/2 on the disk
Thanks. That will teach me for not being thorough enough ! I've had to look for hairy eyes before (= Hadeninae) but not eye colour, 'though the green eyes do catch my eye. thanks again
Don, they are close, all of the Phytometra laevis (65) fit into the one BIN ID: BOLD:AAB1918. A group of 25 range in difference from 0.08% to 0.36%. meanwhile Phytometra formosalis (17) fits into 2 bins BIN ID: BOLD:ACF4053 and BIN ID: BOLD:AAB1918 indicating that some of the formosalis (BOLD:AAB1918) are in fact laevis. Of the ones I tested, 2 sets, one from each bin the difference is 1.37% -1.82% very close, but what makes a species? (we are 2% different to a Chimpanzee). My knowledge of DNA is next to nil and I can only compare the available figures. Of the formosalis, ANICI254-10 and ANICI255-10 belong to laevis BIN ID: BOLD:AAB1918, while the rest are in BIN ID: BOLD:ACF4053