Abantiades hydrographus (R. Felder, 1874)
Western Rain Moth
formerly known as Pielus hydrographus
HEPIALIDAE,   HEPIALOIDEA
 
Don Herbison-Evans
(donherbisonevans@yahoo.com)
and
Stella Crossley

Abantiades hydrographus
(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.

Abantiades hydrographus
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.

Abantiades hydrographus
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.

    Abantiades hydrographus
    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.


    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)