Here's another elegant NZ moth for you. This one's called the Alpine Treasure Owlet (Ichneutica maya).

It's mostly seen up in the mountains in the South Island but also in the mountains of the lower North Island. I saw this one up at Boyle Village in the North Canterbury Southern Alps.

As is the case with many NZ moths, the "life history in the wild of this species is unknown, nor has its larval host species been confirmed" (quoting its Wikipedia page, which is referencing Robert Hoare's 2019 Fauna Series revision of the genus). We've got 144 observations of it so far on #iNaturalist.

https://www.inaturalist.nz/observations/342867458
https://www.flickr.com/photos/mollivan_jon/55146832010

#mothodon #Lepidoptera #moths #Noctuidae #Ichneutica #nz #entomology

"x" marks the moth!

Usually moths have sweeping curves and circles in their markings. Not so Eudonia asterisca, an aptly named NZ-endemic moth. It has a distinctive "x" mark on each forewing.

I photographed this moth at a moth light in the North Canterbury mountains. There are 211 observations of this moth on iNaturalist so far, mostly in the mountains, from throughout the country.

I don't know what its caterpillars eat. (I'm not sure if anyone knows, as it's not listed in NZ's Plant-SyNZ database and all iNat observations are of adults.)

https://www.inaturalist.nz/observations/342713940

#mothodon #moths #Lepidoptera #entomology #nz #iNaturalistNZ

Here's another NZ moth wing for you.

This one is from a particularly elegant colour morph of a NZ Green Carpet Owlet (Ichneutica plena). Usually they're greener than this.

(I'm continuing to have fun uploading my big backlog of moth photos to #iNaturalist. Caution: there will be more moth photos.)

Whole moth on #iNaturalistNZ: https://www.inaturalist.nz/observations/342710304
Full-size on Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/mollivan_jon/55144902646/

#mothodon #moths #Lepidoptera #insects #entomology #photography #nz