Dasygaster nephelistis Hampson, 1905 (one possible synonym : Leucania obumbrata Lucas, 1894) HADENINAE,   NOCTUIDAE,   NOCTUOIDEA

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

(Photo: courtesy of Donald Hobern, Blackheath, New South Wales)

The adult moth has brown forewings with a complex pattern. The hind wings are pale, darkening toward the margin, with dark brown veins. The moth has a wingspan of about 5 cms.

The moth is preyed on by the Bolas Spider ( Ordgarius magnificus, ARANEIDAE ). which emits a pheromone similar to that of the female moth to attract male moths within range of a sticky ball of glue which the spider swings on a length of silk.

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

The species has been found in

South Australia.

male, drawing by George F. Hampson, listed as Dasygaster nephelistis,
Catalogue of the Noctuidæ in the Collection of the British Museum,
Volume V (1905), Plate XCI, fig. 14,
image courtesy of Biodiversity Heritage Library, digitized by Smithsonian Libraries.

The genus to which this species is assigned is controversial.

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Further reading :

Ian F.B. Common,
Moths of Australia,
Melbourne University Press, 1990, p. 60.

George F. Hampson,
Noctuidae,
Catalogue of the Lepidoptera Phalaenae in the British Museum,
Volume 5 (1905), pp. 475-476, No. 1824, and also Plate 91, fig. 14.

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(updated 14 April 2013, 24 February 2016, 7 October 2020)