Abantiades barcas (Pfitzner, 1914)
(formerly known as Pielus barcas)
Northern Ghost Moth
HEPIALIDAE,   HEPIALOIDEA
 
Don Herbison-Evans
(donherbisonevans@yahoo.com)
and
Stella Crossley

Abantiades barcas
(Photo: courtesy SenexRugosus, Lade Vale, New South Wales)

This species has brown wings, each forewing having a ragged white arc from base to wingtip. The hindwings are plain brown. The wing bases and first few abdominal segments are covered in long mauve scales.

Abantiades barcas
male
(Photo: courtesy Paul Kay, New South Wales)

The male moths have a wingspan of about 11 cms. The female moths have a wingspan of about 16 cms.

Abantiades barcas
underside
(Photo: courtesy Paul Kay, New South Wales)

The species has been found in

  • Queensland,
  • New South Wales, and
  • Victoria.

    Abantiades barcas
    male, monochrome grey-scale photo by Norman B. Tindale
    , tinted digitally,
    Revision of the Australian Ghost Moths (Lepidoptera Homoneura, Family Hepialidae),
    Records of the South Australian Museum, Volume 4, Part 4 (1932), p. 532, fig. 57,
    image courtesy of Biodiversity Heritage Library, digitized by South Australian Museum.


    Further reading :

    Axel Kallies,
    Moths of Victoria - Part 6,
    Ghost Moths - HEPIALIDAE and Allies
    ,
    Entomological Society of Victoria, 2015, pp. 20-21.

    R. Pfitzner,
    Neue Hepialiden,
    Entomologische Rundschau,
    Volume 31 (1914), pp. 96.

    Thomas J. Simonsen,
    Splendid Ghost Moths and their Allies,
    A Revision of Australian Abantiades, Oncopera, Aenetus, Archaeoaenetus and Zelotypia (Hepialidae),
    Monographs on Australian Lepidoptera Volume 12,
    CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne, 2018, pp. 68, 71, 232, Plates 5, 43.

    Norman B. Tindale,
    Revision of the Australian Ghost Moths (Lepidoptera Homoneura, Family Hepialidae) ,
    Records of the South Australian Museum,
    Volume 4, Part 4 (1932), pp. 532-533, fig. 57.


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    (written 7 September 2016, updated 20 February 2024)