Almost a butterfly

[moloch]

Yesterday, I headed up to Royal National Park for the morning. This is a big park that is located between Wollongong and Sydney. Royal is a beautiful place and well worth a visit for those of you who head to Australia. I will prepare a full report of this national park later in the year after I take more butterfly photos.

I found something yesterday that totally confused me. I saw three of these leps. When I was close enough to one to take photos, I realized that the insect had clubbed antennae. I assumed that it must be a butterfly for this reason but it was completely unlike anything that I have seen in the field guides. Also, the lep held its wings in a manner that was more typical of a moth than a butterfly. It was territorial and I watched two males in combat before they separated and flew off in opposite directions along the trail. I saw a single larger female. All were along a cliff top above the ocean. The habitat was heath on sandy soil.

When I returned home, I searched the net for awhile and finally found the identity. This is one of the Sun-moths and I think probably Synemon magnifica (Castniidae), a species known from Royal NP. The lower wing is bright orange on both surfaces. The moth often elevated and lowered the wings to "flash" the brilliant colour. It was a lovely sight.

males (I think):
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c386/moloch05/RoyalNationalPark/2Jan2011/unk1.jpg
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c386/moloch05/RoyalNationalPark/2Jan2011/unk2.jpg


female (I think):
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c386/moloch05/RoyalNationalPark/2Jan2011/unk4.jpg

... the orange under surface can be seen a bit in this photo:
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c386/moloch05/RoyalNationalPark/2Jan2011/unk5.jpg


Low clouds arrived in the late morning so I was not able to take many habitat shots. I will have many more when I prepare a full post of Royal. Here is a shot of one of the coastal cliffs. The track that I walked and where I observed the Sun-moth follows the cliffs along the ocean.
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c386/moloch05/RoyalNationalPark/2Jan2011/Royal2.jpg


Butterflies were scarce. I saw a single Blue Triangle ("Bluebottle") and Common Grass Blues but nothing else. I did see other animals that may be of interest to you. One of them was this stunning scarab. It was large and flying around mallee trees, a dwarf shrubby Eucalyptus sp.
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c386/moloch05/RoyalNationalPark/2Jan2011/scarab1.jpg


These Bulldog Ants are impressive due to their large size and big mandibles. I have been stung by them before and they definitely get one's attention when this happens.
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c386/moloch05/RoyalNationalPark/2Jan2011/bulldog1.jpg
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c386/moloch05/RoyalNationalPark/2Jan2011/bullldog2.jpg

[moloch]

I stopped at this creek and found a couple of interesting animals.
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c386/moloch05/RoyalNationalPark/2Jan2011/Royal1.jpg


The most impressive was this Heath Monitor (Varanus rosenbergi). This species is less common than the similar Lace Monitor (V. varius) that also lives in Royal. Heath Monitors are a cool adapted species and found around the southern coastal areas of Australia.
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c386/moloch05/RoyalNationalPark/2Jan2011/VaranusrosenbergiiHeathMonitor2.jpg
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c386/moloch05/RoyalNationalPark/2Jan2011/VaranusrosenbergiiHeathMonitor1a.jpg
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c386/moloch05/RoyalNationalPark/2Jan2011/VaranusrosenbergiiHeathMonitor3a.jpg
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c386/moloch05/RoyalNationalPark/2Jan2011/VaranusrosenbergiiHeathMonitor3.jpg
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c386/moloch05/RoyalNationalPark/2Jan2011/VaranusrosenbergiiHeathMonitor4.jpg


I also saw numerous Eastern Water Skinks (Eulamprus quoyii):
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c386/moloch05/RoyalNationalPark/2Jan2011/EulamprusquoyiiEasternWaterSkink2.jpg
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c386/moloch05/RoyalNationalPark/2Jan2011/EulamprusquoyiiEasternWaterSkink1.jpg

[moloch]

On the return walk to the car, I found a single male Jacky Lizard (Amphibolurus muricatus) in a grassy area. This was a strange place for it. I suppose it might have been hunting grasshoppers. I usually see them on sandstone blocks.
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c386/moloch05/RoyalNationalPark/2Jan2011/Jacky1.jpg


Royal NP has a wonderful collection of plants. Again, I will show more of these in a latter post. Here are a few from yesterday.

Old-man Banksia (Banksia serrata) were flowering. Proteaceae.
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c386/moloch05/RoyalNationalPark/2Jan2011/Banksiaserrata1.jpg


Geebung (Persoonia sp.). Proteaceae
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c386/moloch05/RoyalNationalPark/2Jan2011/Geebung1.jpg


Mountain Devil (Lambertia formosa). Proteaceae.
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c386/moloch05/RoyalNationalPark/2Jan2011/Lambertia1.jpg


Melaleuca sp.
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c386/moloch05/RoyalNationalPark/2Jan2011/melaleuca1.jpg

[Commander]

Wow... that first one would've fooled most of us! I wonder if this is one of the 0.01% that would put the theory of "all butts have clubbed antennae" wrong!

Les, do you have any experience with this one? From the internet, there is only one genus of moths in the European region that has clubbed antennae. This is the first time I've seen one from Australia, or is this the same genus?

[scenar]

Thanks for sharing :)

Love the perspective for the last shot of the Eastern Water Skink.

[WillFolsom]

David: Facinating. Once more I have fallen into the trap of declaring that butterflies have clubbed antenna while moths have frilly or feathery antenna. Once again I've been proven wrong. Congratulations on the images and on the identification of this moth! William

[Silverstreak]

Thanks David for sharing this wonderful series with us and in particular the rare clubbed moth !

I reckon 9.9 out of 10 of us would have been fooled....the club antennae of butterfly is clubbed by this fascinating moth !:bsmile:

:cheers:

[Painted Jezebel]

Wow... that first one would've fooled most of us! I wonder if this is one of the 0.01% that would put the theory of "all butts have clubbed antennae" wrong!

Les, do you have any experience with this one? From the internet, there is only one genus of moths in the European region that has clubbed antennae. This is the first time I've seen one from Australia, or is this the same genus?

None whatsoever. It would have fooled me for a while as well. I think that there are several genera in the family Castniidae, all with clubbed antennae, but I could not find any representatives in my books of moths from British Isles.

[Commander]

Yes indeed. There is a whole bunch of moths from this family that have distinctly clubbed antennae! :sweat:

http://www1.ala.org.au/gallery2/v/Castniidae/

Haven't come across this before, and this will throw the general "rule" that butterflies have clubbed antennae and moths do not, will be thrown to the dogs. ;P

Though we are "safe" enough for the time being, Australia may be "close enough" for one of these buggers to end up in Singapore one of these days.

[atronox]

This general rule doesn't hold for all as can be seen from castniids.
In addition, the butterfly Pseudopontia paradoxa is almost clubless and the females of some neotropical riodinids is totally clubless.:)

[moloch]

Thanks, everyone, for the kind remarks. I was happy to see this odd-ball moth. Like most of you, I did not realize that any moths had clubbed antennae until I saw this species. Yes, Sunny and William, this moth clubbed the "only butterflies have clubbed antennae" theory.

Yaoyang, I think that the waterskinks are real cuties. They often are tame at Royal since there are so many visitors. They become habituated and are easy to approach. I have seen large Eastern Water Dragons begging for food from people on picnics. It seems odd to watch a big lizard circle around people and wait for scraps.

That was a good link, Khew. They are a pretty bunch with those brightly coloured lower wings. My initial impression when I saw the moth in the first photo was that it was some sort of strange skipper. The rapid flight, twirling combat and rapid patrols back and forth along the trail made me think this as well.

Thanks for info, Les and Aaron.


Regards,
David