Synemon phaeoptila

Synemon phaeoptila Turner, 1906
Shiny Sun Moth
(one synonym is Synemon josepha Strand, 1911)
CASTNIIDAE, SESIOIDEA

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

(Photo: courtesy of Simon Ong, Tiwi Islands, Northern Territory)

The adult moth of this species has dark brown forewings, each with an oblong white spot near the middle.

(Photo: courtesy of CSIRO/BIO Photography Group, Centre for Biodiversity Genomics, University of Guelph)

The hindwings are dark brown with orange markings. The wingspan is about 3.5 cms.

Drawing by Embrik Strand, listed as Synemon phaeoptila,
Synemon - Epicop, Indo-Australian Bombyces and Sphinges,
in Adalbert Seitz (ed.): The Macrolepidoptera of the World,
Stuttgart : Alfred Kernen Verlag, Volume 10 (1933), Plate 9, fig b3,
image courtesy of Biodiversity Heritage Library, digitized by Natural History Museum Library, London.

The species is found in

Northern Territory, and

Queensland.

Drawing by Embrik Strand, listed as Synemon josepha,
Synemon - Epicop, Indo-Australian Bombyces and Sphinges,
in Adalbert Seitz (ed.): The Macrolepidoptera of the World,
Stuttgart : Alfred Kernen Verlag, Volume 10 (1933), Plate 9, fig c3,
image courtesy of Biodiversity Heritage Library, digitized by Natural History Museum Library, London.

underside
Drawing by Embrik Strand, listed as Synemon phaeoptila,
Synemon - Epicop, Indo-Australian Bombyces and Sphinges,
in Adalbert Seitz (ed.): The Macrolepidoptera of the World,
Stuttgart : Alfred Kernen Verlag, Volume 10 (1933), Plate 9, fig b3,
image courtesy of Biodiversity Heritage Library, digitized by Natural History Museum Library, London.

Further reading :

Embrik Strand,
Die Indisch-Australischen Castniiden,
Archiv für Naturgeschichte,
Volume 77, Supplement 1 (1911), p. 147.

Embrik Strand,
Bombyces and Sphinges of the Indo-Australian Region,
in Adalbert Seitz (ed.):
The Macrolepidoptera of the World,
Plate 9, fig b3 & c3.

A. Jefferis Turner,
New Australian Lepidoptera, with synonymic and other notes.,
Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia,
Volume 30 (1906), p. 136-137.

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(written 21 August 2018, updated 10 December 2023)