Speiredonia obscura (Cramer, 1780)
 (one synonym is Noctua zamis Stoll, 1790)
CATOCALINI,   EREBIDAE,   NOCTUOIDEA
 
Don Herbison-Evans
(donherbisonevans@yahoo.com)
and
Stella Crossley

Speiredonia obscura
(Photo: courtesy of Wendy & Bart Hacobian, Milaa Milaa, Queensland)

The adult moths of this species are blue and brown, with an eye-spot on each forewing. In dead specimens, the blue fades to brown. The wingspan is about 5 cms.

Speiredonia obscura
drawing by Pieter Cramer, listed as Noctua obscura,
Papillons exotiques, De uitlandsche kapellen, voorkomende in de drie waereld,
Tome 3 (1782), Plate CCLXXIV, fig. B,
image courtesy of Biodiversity Heritage Library, digitized by Smithsonian Libraries.

The females have a pale scalloped submarginal band on each wing, and their last two abdominal segments are red.

The species is found across the south-east Asia, including :

  • Borneo,
  • India,
  • Malaysia,
  • New Guinea,
  • Philippines,

    and in Australia in

  • Western Australia,
  • Northern Territory, and
  • Queensland.

    Further reading :

    Ian F.B. Common,
    Moths of Australia, Melbourne University Press, 1990, pp. 71, 454.

    Pieter Cramer,
    Papillons exotiques,
    De uitlandsche kapellen, voorkomende in de drie waereld,
    Amsterdam Baalde, Volume 3 (1782), p. 146, and also Plate 274, fig. B..

    Buck Richardson,
    Tropical Queensland Wildlife from Dusk to Dawn Science and Art,
    LeapFrogOz, Kuranda, 2015, p. 152.

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    (updated 24 June 2011, 13 August 2017, 29 December 2021)