A New Moth for the Backyard

..... Porela albifinis (Walker, 1855)

Well technically I didn't see it in the backyard; I found it in the bathroom as the light had been left on with the window open. It's the first new moth I've seen for a while as I have not been putting the light trap out. Now that I have a camera again I hope to get a few nights of mothing in this side of winter. I just have to wait for the rain and wind to stop. In Tassie that may be considered wishful thinking :-)

The moth is Porela albifinus of the family Lasiocampidae.

(Click to enlarge)

Female White-tailed Porela - Porela albifinis

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Snail on Fungus

Other than a few empty shells, whenever I find an interesting looking snail or slug it it turns out to be an introduced species. You can see some of them here.

This time I'm I 'think' I've found a native. I spotted it while photographing fungi at Fern Glade by the Emu River. My amateur efforts at keying it out put it in the family Charopidae. These snails are said to feed on decaying vegetable matter and fungi. There are at least 24 Tasmanian members in this family most of which are quite small (2 - 5 mm). Based only on the relatively large size of this snail (7-8mm) and it's location, it may well be Thryasona diemenensis. This is a fairy widespread snail in Tasmania and is known to exist at the site where I found this one.


EDIT: Dr. Kevin Bonham has kindly provided a correct ID for this snail. I was way of the mark although I at least put it in the right family :-) The snail is Stenacapha ducani. It can grow to around 15mm in this area and in the far north-west reaches over 20mm.

(Click to enlarge)

A Snail - Stenacapha ducani

......and the fungus (Gymnopilus sp) it was feeding on

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