Four O Clock Moth Dysphania Numana Gets Its Wings

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I have been waiting many months to be Johnny-on-the-spot when the Day Moth got its wings. I always seem to have gotten there late. Today I missed the first one and almost missed the second hatchling. I have spent countless hours locating the caterpillars, finding and storing its food, watching the cocoon wiggle away and waited many hours in the dark for it to come out of its cocoon. They have taught me many new ways of looking at plants and sensing the rhythms that moths and butterflies move to. I suppose the biggest surprise was the specific and limited larval foods they require and how important it is to notice where they land and what they do when they set down. I was like a proud uncle when I placed them on the leaves of their favourite tree, watched them strum their wings and test their strength and then fly off to gain height and be on their way.
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Four o clock Moth Dysphania numana
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South Eastern Arnhem Escarpment Marrawal Plateau

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The Indigenous Jawoyn call this place the sickness country because if you wake up the sleeping Bula he might cause earthquakes and fire will destroy the world. This also the area where they used to mine uranium. I stretched my legs along the Marrawal Plateau to Kurrundie Creek. The Plateau was awash with fields of Crotalaria goreensis which looked like they were tended by a gardener because they were all exactly the same height.
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Escarpment South Eastern Arnhmland
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Acacia hammondii
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Blue Argus Junonia orithya inside
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Blue Argus Junonia orithya outside
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Clearwing Swallowtail Cressida Cressida
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Cockatiel Leptolophus (Nymphicus) hollandicus
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Eucalyptus polycarpa

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Flower Wasp Rhynchium sp.
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Glycine tometella
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Imma lyrifera
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Leaf Beetle Chrysomelidae sp.
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Partridge Pigeon Geophaps smithii
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Partridge Pigeon Geophaps smithii
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Robber Fly Asilidae Laphria sp.

eating a

Potter Wasp Vespidae sp.
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Scarlet Gum Eucalyptus phoenicea
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Secamone elliptica
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Swamp Watcher Potamarcha congener
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Utethesia sp. Butterfly

roosting on

Crotalaria goreensis
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White-throated Honeyeater Melithreptus albogularis juv.
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White-winged Triller Lelage tricolour
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Grasslands I

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I have been amazed at all the strange little creatures who clamber, spring, vault, rocket, dive or just hitch a ride on my shirt sleeve as I explore the grasslands. I use a pair of canvas gators now, as I quickly tired of trying to pinch and pluck the small grass seeds that seem to be magnetically attracted to my socks. It is surprising how annoying such a small sliver of plant can become and how adapt they are to getting into the most private of places.
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Acropteris striataria
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Antlion Myrmeleontidae sp.
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Banded Antlion Glenoleon pulchellus
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Common Brown Antlion Myrmeleon pictifrons
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Giant Green Slantface Acrida conica

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Green Lacewing Italochrysa insignis

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Leaf Beetle Chrysomelidae sp.

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Northern Ringtail Austrolestes insularis
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Robber Fly Asilinae sp.
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Stink Bug Pentatomidae sp.
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Tube Spittle Bug Machaerota pugionata Stal

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Grasslands II

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Still hot and still humid the grasslands have benefited from all the rain. An explosion of plant life has meant more food for the insects. Insects not only eat the plant leaves, as in the one and only food source for the very picky caterpillars, but they also could be vine chewers or flower petal munchers. The myriad of random stalks; the many stemmed small shrubs and snaking and undulating vines also provide a safe haven for the small insects and a safe platform to attach a cocoon. Now that the grasses have started to dry out, they are providing seeds on the stalk or swirling pools of seeds on the ground for all the winged seed eaters to feast on. Not to mention the winged predators looking for a slow flying insect to feast on.
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Blue Argus Junonia orithya albicincta Caterpillar
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Blue Argus Junonia orithya albicincta Caterpillar
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Blue-banded Eggfly Hypolimnas alimena
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Blue Argus Junonia orithya albicincta cocoon
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Chestnut-breasted Mannikin Lonchura castaneothorax
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Blue Argus Junonia orithya albicincta inside
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Common Grass-blue Zizina labradus outside mating
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Clearwing Swallowtail Cressida Cressida caterpillar

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Cullen badocanum Larva Food for Chequred Swallowtail
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Fruit Piercing Moth Othreis materna caterpillar
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Fruit Piercing Moth Othreis materna caterpillar
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Galah Cacatua roseicapilla

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Golden-headed Cisticola Cisticola exilis Juv
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Blue -winged Kookaburra Dacelo leachii

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Macroptilium atropurpureum
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Moth Periopta diversa
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Wild Passionfruit Passiflora foetida
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