Hourglass Wasp Moth - Eressa geographica
Family Arctiidae
This page contains pictures and information about Hourglass Wasp Moths that we found in the Brisbane area, Queensland, Australia.
- Body length 20mm, male and female
- In Brisbane we found a number of species in subfamily Ctenuchinae. All of them have the very similar wing patterns. We distinguished this Orange Back Wasp Moth by the orange-yellow hourglass patterns on thorax. This moth is quite common in Brisbane bushes.
- We find this mating couple in Karawatha Forest in late summer. We can also find them near Stockyard Creek. This moth look similar to the Common Wasp Moth except the yellow hourglass pattern.
- Mar 2008, Mt Coot-tha Oct 2007, Karawatha Forest
![PWC_9062[1].jpg (150248 bytes)](images/PWC_90621_small.jpg)
- Then we found this moth is quite common in Brisbane bushes. It can be seen from early summer to early winter.
- The moths have narrow fore wings, small hind wings and ringed abdomen.
![PWC_9062[1].jpg (150248 bytes)](images/PWC_90621.jpg)
Found on ground
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- The above picture shows the Tiger Moth hiding under a small rock on ground. We did not expect to found the moth when we turned over the rock to check an ants nest. The moth was still pale in colour, it could be just came out from a pupa. It was on Apr 2005.
Found on tree hole
- On September 2006 in Whitehills during late afternoon. We saw some of this moths flying around a large gum tree. Then we saw some moths flied into a tree hole near ground and seem lay eggs inside, as shown in the above pictures. There were more than ten of them.
- We watched for half an hour but could not figure out what were they doing there.
- Reference:
- 1. Moths - family Arctiidae - lifeunseen.com by Nick Monaghan, 2007.
- 2. Arctiidae - www.leapfrogoz.com.au
- 3. Eressa {genus} - The Barcode of Life Data System (www.barcodinglife.org),2011.
- 4. Eressa geographica (Meyrick, 1886) - Australian Caterpillars by Don Herbison-Evans & Stella Crossley, 2010.
