Black & White Crest-moth
Male, Hindwings
Ellura
Red-tracked Geometrid
Female, dorsal
 
                      
Red-tracked Geometrid (Plesiolaea maritima)Class: Animals (Animalia) - Jointed Legs (Arthropoda) - Insects (Insecta)
Order: Butterflies & Moths (Lepidoptera)
Family: Geometer (:Geometridae Ennominae Nacophorini)     iNaturalist Observation
Species: Red-tracked Geometrid (Plesiolaea maritima)
This Photo:     Male, dorsal

Thank you Don Herbison-Evans, Prof Victor W Fazio III†, Axel Kallies, Ben Kurek & Craig Polkinghorne for confirming the id of this species for us

General Species Information:
Found on Ellura (in the Murray Mallee, SA) and elsewhere
~11mm long & wingspan 28mm.
The female has 3 very distinctive red streaks (2 lateral & one diagonal) on a grey dapled background.
It has a small tuft on each side above the head, and 2 black spots under it's hind wings.
It tends to sit with it's wings wrapped around it's body like a cylinder, but can sit with it's wings out flat.
It plays dead easily making photography of it's underneath nearly impossible.
Thanks to Don Herbison-Evan for confirming our 2nd specimen is the male of this species, based on the forewing tip markings

Copyright © 2018-2024 Brett & Marie Smith. All Rights Reserved. Photographed 18-Apr-2018
This species is an Australian Native Species, not listed in the SA Murray Mallee Survey of 2010.