Nearcha aridaria (Walker, 1866) Desert Nearcha (previously known as Tephrina aridaria) OENOCHROMINAE,   GEOMETRIDAE,   GEOMETROIDEA

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

female
(Photo: courtesy of Peter Marriott, Moths of Victoria: Part 4)

The adult moths of this species are greyish brown with dark brown spots and/or wavy lines on each wing. The males have a dark hair tuft on the underside of each hindwing. The hindwings have have a rounded wing-tip, unlike Nearcha curtaria. The males have bipectinate antennae. The females have thread-like antennae. The wingspan is about 2.5 cms.

male
(Photo: courtesy of CSIRO/BIO Photography Group, Centre for Biodiversity Genomics, University of Guelph)

The species has been found in

Western Australia.

male, underside
(Photo: courtesy of Brett and Marie Smith, Swan Reach Conservation Park, South Australia)

male, hindwing underside tuft, magnified
(Photo: courtesy of John Bromilow, Ainslie, Australian Capital Territory)

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Further reading :

Peter Marriott,
Moths of Victoria: Part 4,
Emeralds and Allies - GEOMETROIDEA (B),
Entomological Society of Victoria, 2012, pp. 18-19.

Francis Walker,
Catalogue of Lepidoptera Heterocera,
List of the Specimens of Lepidopterous Insects in the Collection of the British Museum,
Part 35, Supplement 5 (1866), p. 1662.

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(updated 16 March 2012, 7 September 2020, 25 March 2021)