Backyard Tigers and More

We had a Tasmanian Tiger visit the backyard last night. Well a Tiger moth that is or more specifically, the Black and White Tiger Moth, Spilosoma glatignyi.

Black and White Tiger Moth - Spilosoma glatignyi - (Arctiidae)


Black and White Tiger Moth - FW 25mm - Spilosoma glatignyi - (Arctiidae)

The veggie garden also provided a couple of photo opportunities. Under the outer leaves of a cabbage I found both a final instar larva and a chrysalis of the Cabbage White Butterfly, Pieris rapae. I never use chemical sprays on my garden so a few caterpillars are to be expected and of course there was still 3kg of perfectly good cabbage underneath.

Cabbage White Butterfly - larva - Pieris rapae - (Pieridae)

Cabbage White Butterfly - chrysalis - Pieris rapae - (Pieridae)
Note the single strand of silk attaching the chrysalis to the cabbage leaf.

Another species with a taste for cabbages and other brassicas is the Diamondback Moth, Plutella xylostella. I get hundreds of these in the moth trap some nights and yet for some reason I've never had them (yet) on my veggies. I bought some locally grown broccoli once only to find it was riddled with Diamondbacks at every stage of their development. I didn't complain as I got some good photos at the time and the chooks were happy to eat it :-) Here's one from the trap the other night.

Plutella xylostella - (Plutelidae)

Here's an interesting little moth. I thought it would belong to the Oecophoridae but the labial palpi seemed to be sticking straight out. With Oecophorids the palpi should be upcurved and pointed. Closer inspection showed this was actually the case. What I had been looking at were thick brush like hairs growing outward from the palpi.

Wingia hesperidella (Oecophoridae)

Wingia hesperidella (Oecophoridae) - Detail of head

Note the Upturned and pointed palpi and the thick, outward pointing, brush like hairs.

The next two photos show a couple of unidentified Noctuids I've had in the trap over the last few days. Any ID suggestions are welcome.

Unidentfied Noctuid

Unidentfied Noctuid

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