Platagarista macleayi (W.S.Macleay, 1864) Macleay's Day-moth (one synonym : Agarista tetrapleura Meyrick, 1891) AGARISTINAE,   NOCTUIDAE,   NOCTUOIDEA

Don Herbison-Evans (donherbisonevans@yahoo.com) and Stella Crossley

(Specimen: courtesy of the Macleay Museum, University of Sydney)

The adult moths of this species are black with a diagonal white bar across each wing, and have an abdomen that is black with white bands and has a yellow tuft of hairs on the tip. Male moths of this species are notable because they whistle as they fly.

underside
(Specimen: courtesy of the Macleay Museum, University of Sydney)

The moths have a wingspan of about 4.5 cms.

mating pair
(Photo: courtesy of Andrew Melville, Gosford, New South Wales)

The species is found in eastern Australia, including

Victoria.

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Further reading :

Ian F.B. Common,
Moths of Australia, Melbourne University Press, 1990, fig. 49.13, pp.47, 50, 464.

William Sharp Macleay,
Descriptions of Australian Micro-lepidoptera. XII,
Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales,
Series 2, Volume 6, Part 2 (1891), p. 301.

Peter Marriott,
Moths of Victoria - Part 8,
Night Moths and Allies - NOCTUOIDEA(B),
Entomological Society of Victoria, 2017, pp. 34-35.

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(updated 21 October 2010, 29 August 2021)