(Photo: courtesy of Pete Woodall, O’Connor, Australian Capital Territory)

The adult moth of Tathorhynchus fallax is fawn, with forewings that each have dark margins, and near the middle have a small pale spot joined by dark line to a small pale-outlined kidney-shaped spot. The hindwings are plain fawn. The moth has a wingspan of about 4 cms.

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

The species may be found over much of Australia, including

as well as in

Some taxonomists consider it to be a subspecies of Tathorhynchus exsiccata which is found in North America, Africa, Europe, and Asia.

Further reading :

Ian F.B. Common,
Moths of Australia,
Melbourne University Press, 1990, fig. 45.1, p. 452.

Peter Marriott,
Moths of Victoria - Part 8,
Night Moths and Allies - NOCTUOIDEA(B),
Entomological Society of Victoria, 2017, pp. 12-13.

Charles Swinhoe,
On Indian and Australian moths,
The Annals and Magazine of Natural History,
Series 7, Volume 9 (1902), pp. 423-424.

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(updated 6 August 2011, 16 August 2023)