Golden Cup Moth
S10, Male, profile
Ellura
Golden Cup Moth
S2, Male, Antenna
 
                      
Golden Cup Moth (Pseudanapaea sp)Class: Animals (Animalia) - Jointed Legs (Arthropoda) - Insects (Insecta)
Order: Butterflies & Moths (Lepidoptera)
Family: Cup Moth (:Zygaenoidea Limacodidae)     iNaturalist Observation
Species: Golden Cup Moth (Pseudanapaea sp)
This Photo:     S1, Male, anterior

General Species Information:
Found on Ellura (in the Murray Mallee, SA) and elsewhere
Always surprises us to see moth playing dead.
We were testing a new LED work light out as a moth light. Worked very well. Unfortunately this fellow sat on it (stuffing up the lighting), flapped about a lot and either exhausted itself or felt threatened by the camera. After a while it just keeled over and looked dead (when we got the ventral shot). It later "recovered" and flew away

We've gone through the 21 Bold Bins related to Pseudanapaea.
3 are in SA. This is the only one not P. denotata by DNA testing, it's P. transvestita. It's right on the SA/NSW/Vic Border. ie River Murray: Bold Bin
There is at least one sample "BC EF Lep 01466" that has no large white/pale patch behind the orange, as in most P. transvestita. Therefore, we don't think it's possible to visually differentiate between Pseudanapaea and it's not possible to assume id based on location.
P. transvestita example with no large white patches

Copyright © 2016-2024 Brett & Marie Smith. All Rights Reserved. Photographed 26-Oct-2016
This species is an Australian Native Species, not listed in the SA Murray Mallee Survey of 2010.