Reader Chris Taylor sent us some lovely photos of moths and butterflies, most from Australia. His captions and IDs are indented, and you can enlarge his photos by clicking on them.
I’ve dug out some lepidoptera photos for your wildlife photos. These have been taken in many places over a long period of time. They are mostly Australian, but a couple of ringers crept in there too .I know very little about any of them, other than the identification and place where the photo was taken.
Danaus plexippus, Monarch, Nelson New Zealand:
Dasypodia selenophora, Southern Old Lady Moth, Burra NSW:
Delias nigrina, Black Jezebel, North Richmond NSW:
Euploea core, Common Crow, Burra NSW:
Graphium macleayanum, Macleay Swallowtail, Jindabyne NSW:
Unidentified Hawk moth, Burra NSW:
Junonia villida, Meadow Argus, Tallawang, NSW:
Orgyia anartoides, Tussock moth caterpillar, Atherton Tablelands QLD:
Papilio anactus, Dainty Swallowtail, North Richmond NSW:
Pararge aegeria, Speckled Wood, Stalybridge UK:
Unidentified caterpillar, North Richmond NSW:
Vanessa itea, Yellow Admiral, Bundanoon NSW:
Vanessa kershawi, Australian Painted Lady, Bilpin NSW:
Nice lepidoptera! Thanks.
Very lovely photos. I had no idea there were Monarch butterflies in New Zealand! Were they introduced, or is that a natural part of their range (I know they fly long distances, but…) or are there two species or what?
A very interesting set! The Macleay swallowtail looks to be in the skipper family, but there are skippers with tails.
Mark, that looks like a true swallowtail to me. The relative proportions of the wings, and the way they are held together over the body, are typical of swallowtails and not of skippers.
Very nice collection of Lepidoptera here. I especially liked the Macleay Swallowtail; I don’t recall seeing many green butterflies.
Nice set. I believe your unidentified caterpillar is Neola semiaurata
And I believe your unIDed moth is Abantiades atripalpis AKA Bardi Moth
Sorry for a third post but I just noticed that what you have IDed here as a Common Crow Euploea core is in fact a photo of an Australian Grapevine Moth Phalaenoides glycinae. Again a nice set of Lepidoptera with several I have not yet seen in real life.
Tony, thanks for your help in identifying these, Lepidoptera is not my strongest subject!