@donhe @WendyEM It seems rather complicated, Palpita annulate no longer exists as a species. It appears it was misidentified over the years and several versions have been placed under, inusitata, celsalis and munroei. However the original Phalaena annulata Fabricius, 1794 is under celsalis as the name was occupied by Phalaena annulate Schulze, 1775, a Geometrid. Palpita celsalis is from Sri Lanka and S. India
Thanks Peter. Looking at the distribution of your FNQ moths has had me thinking about the Wallace Line (& other versions). Also, I had never seen a Palpita sp until 2014 when I was seeing P. unionalis regularly around my home in inner n Melb. I think they were turning up more broadly in Melb. too. I have not seen them since. It is interesting to look at P. unionalis distribution on iNat & BOLD.
@WendyEM Wendy, you need to read the works of Hiroshi Inoue, 1996-7-9, his 3 part "Revision of the genus Palpita Hubner (Crambidae, Pyraustinae) from the Eastern Palaearctic, Oriental and Australian Regions" from which I have quoted above. Unionalis is possibly not what you think as its distribution is, Africa, Madagascar, S, Europe, Middle East, Afghanistan, Pakistanh, India & Napal. Hence the creation of Austrounionalis for the Australian species. Tinea: Japan Heterocerists' Society Volume 15 Pt1 and Pt2 and Volume 16 Pt1 http://www.moth.jp/en/pubs/tinea
I had a partner years ago who worked unloading imported shipping containers of sacks of nuts, dried fruit etc. Supposedly treated, but all sorts of things would fly out when he opened the doors (in the open air ~ 5+ km from my house) . So who knows. Thanks for the heads up, I'll take a look.