Thursday 26 February 2009

MOTHS OF GREAT WESTERN

My new site "Moths of Great Western" is up and running.

I wanted to create a site where I could place identified species into their respective Family albums and as I am severely IT disadvantaged, building my own web page is out of the question at this stage! :-)

Ning was the best free host I could find. They also allow a large amount of bandwidth.

10 Family albums appear on the left-hand side of the main page under "Photos". Clicking on the album will open thumbnail photos. Clicking on a photo will enlarge it and show the subfamily and species at the top of the photo. Other albums may be accessed by either clicking "show all" at the bottom of the album section or clicking on "All Albums" or "My Albums".

There is a forum on the site, but you will have to join to talk to me or leave a comment on any of the photos. Communication there will be much easier than it is with blogger. No waiting for comment approval and depending who is around at the right time, real time discussions are a strong possibility.

http://mothsofgreatwestern.ning.com/

I will still keep this blog going, but entries may not be as frequent as they have been. On the other hand, my new site is being updated regularly, whilst the moths are co-operating!!

Hope to 'see' you there!

Thursday 19 February 2009

February Moths - 2

Weather conditions have not been particularly favourable for any mothing since my last entry, because of the southerly winds. At least there has been a break in the stifling heat and up until this morning, a bit of an Autumn feel around the place. To be perfectly frank, I've not felt much like blogging. Victoria's devastating fire tragedy has given me more than myself to think about.

Here are a few from Tuesday night - the first with almost no breeze for a couple of weeks.

(Click images to enlarge)



No. 1
Syringoseca rhodoxantha

OECOPHORIDAE : Oecophorinae





No. 2
A couple of shots showing detail of abdomen and hindwing
plus white marking under the eye of Spectrotrota fimbrialis (I think)


PYRALIDAE : Epipaschiinae





No. 3

This has to be a Tineid - Edosa sp. maybe, because of the way
it was racing all over the sheet, typical of Tineid behaviour when they land, apparently.

TINEIDAE


No. 4

Probably Stenoptilia zophodactylus (thanks, Donald)

This species of Plume Moth has a wingspan of around 1cm.

PTEROPHORIDAE






























































Saturday 7 February 2009

February Moths - 1

Another appalling day coming up in Victoria. The entire state is on severe fire weather warning and a declared Total Fire Ban day. There is a bad fire in the Bunyip State Park in Gippsland and conditions today could give property owners in the vicinity major concerns.

Although I am miles away from Gippsland, perhaps it's prudent to post my latest 'finds' just in case, as my region is tinder dry and fire-prone! So far, we have been extremely lucky with no serious outbreaks.

(Click images to enlarge)

No. 1
Culama australis
COSSIDAE

No.2
Lepidoscia sp
PSYCHIDAE
No. 3
Persectania sp (I think) possibly Persectania ewingii - Southern Armyworm.
NOCTUIDAE : Hadeninae
TO BE INVESTIGATED
No. 4

No. 5
UPDATE: This is possibly Phycitinae sp.
PYRALIDAE

No. 6