Idiodes apicata at Brogo, NSW

Bracken Moth at Brogo, NSW

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Identification history

Idiodes apicata	18 Oct 2019	MaxCampbell
Idiodes apicata	10 Oct 2019	GlennCocking
Geometridae (family)	13 Sep 2019	MaxCampbell

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Author's notes

Found, at night, on our window pane. Wingspan about 40mm.

9 comments

PaulWhitington wrote:

14 Sep 2019

Looks like a pretty good match to photos of this species in Moths of Victoria. They report it has been found around Mallacoota with peak flight times in October/November.

PaulWhitington wrote:

14 Sep 2019

Your photos of the upper and under wing are also a good match for images on Don Herbison-Evan’s site http://lepidoptera.butterflyhouse.com.au/chro/amyclaria.html

MaxCampbell wrote:

15 Sep 2019

Hi Paul,
I had a trawl through a lot of Cernia amyclaria photos in view of your suggestion and wasn't (initially) very convinced by rounded (fore) wingtips and scalloped trailing edges. My specimen has very pointed wing tips and plain, slightly fringed trailing edges. I also thought my photos would stand apart from the others on basic patterning even allowing for variation. However on examining the Dianne Clarke photos at butterflyhouse, especially the underside view, I'm thinking you're probably right.
Cheers,
Max.

PaulWhitington wrote:

15 Sep 2019

As usual, Max, we’ll leave it to the judge - Glenn!

GlennCocking wrote:

11 Oct 2019

With one reservation, I believe this is Idiodes apicata. The wing pattern well matches some of the forms of that variable species. A small kink in the hindwing (much less pronounced than in Cernia amyclaria) is present in the photo and the species generally, although you often can't see it in a photo, or sometimes in a set specimen. The only reservation is the antennae. At first I thought they were pectinate, but perhaps the photo is just picking up the short and dense cilia on a male moth.

JackieMiles wrote:

11 Oct 2019

So is the common name bracken moth because the larvae feed on bracken? Because that is something we have rather a lot of on our place, for what that is worth. I had a close look at the antennae on Max's photo and they look a bit bumpy edged, but not pectinate.

PaulWhitington wrote:

11 Oct 2019

We reared this moth from a caterpillar and as you can see from Kerri’s notes, it only seems to accept bracken.

Idiodes apicata (Bracken Moth) on 3 Mar 2019

JackieMiles wrote:

11 Oct 2019

Right, well we need an army of the things here then. I have never seen a caterpillar on our bracken, despite spending rather a lot of time in the last few summers cutting down regrowth after winter slashing of enormous stands of waist high bracken. With the amount of bracken in the Bega Valley you'd reckon this moth would be super-abundant.

MaxCampbell wrote:

18 Oct 2019

Hi Glen, Thanks once again for your suggestion. I agree that the wing shape and colour patterning is very convincing. I have seen a good presentation of the species here:
http://lepidoptera.butterflyhouse.com.au/enno/apicata.html
The antennae are seen here to be robustly filamentous, and quite broad in one plane. (See especially the wing underside photo). I found a good close look at the antennae here:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/50615476@N03/32899384560/in/photostream/
which shows them to have a woven texture with a slight central crease. I think, when we allow for my little cameras inboard flash accentuating shadows somewhat, that the antennae are not too extraordinary.

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