Abantiades hydrographus (R. Felder, 1874) Western Rain Moth formerly known as Pielus hydrographus HEPIALIDAE,   HEPIALOIDEA

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

(Photo: courtesy of Paul Kay, Wandoo State Forest, Western Australia)

These adult moths are grey-brown with two variable white flashes, and complex labyrinthine dark lines on the forewings. The hindwings are plain brown.

male
(Photo: courtesy of Paul Kay, Wandoo State Forest, Western Australia)

The moths have unipectinate antennae. The male moths have a typical wingspan of 15 cms.

female
(Photo: courtesy of Paul Kay, Wandoo State Forest, Western Australia)

The female moths have a fatter abdomen than the males, and have a typical wingspan of 20 cms. The moths emerge, en masse, during the first major autumn rains. The males only live for about two days, and the females for about 4 days.

The species is found in

Western Australia.

drawing by Rudolf Felder, listed as Pielus hydrographus,
Zoologischer Theil, Reise der Osterreichischen Fregatte Novara,
Band 2, Abtheilung 2 (1874), plate 80, fig. 3,
image courtesy of Biodiversity Heritage Library, digitized by Smithsonian Libraries.

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Further reading :

Rudolf Felder,
Zoologischer Theil: Lepidoptera,
Reise der Osterreichischen Fregatte Novara,
Band 2, Abtheilung 2 (5) (1875), p. 8, and also Plate 80, fig. 3.

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. 77, 190, 232, Plates 9, 43.

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(written 26 March 2015, updated 24 January 2020)