Dodonaea Moth
S5, Male, Antennae
Ellura
Dodonaea Moth
S4, Male, ventral
 
                      
Dodonaea Moth (Parosteodes fictiliaria)Class: Animals (Animalia) - Jointed Legs (Arthropoda) - Insects (Insecta)
Order: Butterflies & Moths (Lepidoptera)
Family: Geometer (:Geometridae Ennominae Macariini)     iNaturalist Observation
Species: Dodonaea Moth (Parosteodes fictiliaria)
This Photo:     S6, Male, Antennae

Thank you Axel Kallies for identifying this species for us

General Species Information:
Found on Ellura (in the Murray Mallee, SA) and elsewhere
Head & body ~13mm, wingspan ~32mm.
A HIGHLY variable moth, making id for ameteurs like ourselves difficult. The MoV books have helped us immensely with separating these out from other unidentified Geometrids
Males have very finely bipectinate antennae, nearly invisible, which makes the antennae look thicker in males. As such, gender determination is very difficult with less than macro photography or a ventral view.
These are one of the few species where colour can change with age as a pinned specimen. Colour & pattern variations are not gender based.

Copyright © 2015-2024 Brett & Marie Smith. All Rights Reserved. Photographed 29-Sep-2015
This species is an Australian Native Species, not listed in the SA Murray Mallee Survey of 2010.