Diario de alphaj16

During a recent trip to Molonglo Gorge (ACT), I spotted three caterpillars with cases made from sticky everlasting petals. The usually helpful iNat auto-identifier wasn't able to shed much light, so after a little bit of internet research it seems they are an undescribed species of case moth.

The internet revealed several case moth species:
http://lepidoptera.butterflyhouse.com.au/psyc/psyc-cats.html
In particular undetermined species BB, which has similar petal cases and was found nearby, but the source flowers were different: http://lepidoptera.butterflyhouse.com.au/psyc/psychbb.html

I've exchanged a few emails with the Don Herbison-Evans from that website, and he advised that they could be Psychidae or Tineoidea, so he's suggested rearing a specimen in captivity to see what pops out, which sounds like a fun science experiment, so I'll be heading back to Molonglo Gorge to see if we can find any...and then see what happens...!

Stay tuned.

A weekend trip to the northern beaches to escape the unseasonal cold weather in Canberra!

The trip included visits to Warriewood Wetlands, Ku-Ring-Gai National Park and Mona Vale Basin for some bird and bug spotting!
Highlights included lots of interesting insects and spiders! My particular favourites are:
-Mesostenina wasp
-Handmaiden moths
-Flower-feeding march fly
-Austral ellipsidion cockroaches
-Common triangular spider
-Saint Andrew's cross spider
(plus a few more I've linked below)

I also spotted a red-bellied black snake lurking in the wetlands, and a few nice beach coming finds on the beach, including a violet globe snail.