Black And White Tiger Moth: Spilosoma glatignyi

Macro image of caterpillar 

Caterpillar

Class: Insecta 

Order: Lepidoptera 

Family: Arctiidae 

Ardices glatignyi

(Formerly Spilosoma glatignyi)

This Black And White Tiger Moth is an Australian moth that is easily identified by the black/brown pattern in white wings. The abdomen has black and orange horizontal stripes. Thorax is covered in white hairs. It has black eyes with variable orange pattern on the head. 

The above photos were taken during different times. The first photo was in Summer 2014. The second and the third photos were taken in Autumn 2015 which show the eggs laid by the female. The caterpillars (at a late instar phase) are black and orange. They are very hairy. The mandibles and thoracic legs are bright red. I have seen the caterpilars voraciously feed on African Daisy.

Reference:

butterflyhouse.com.au

Angled Satin Moth: Thalaina angulosa

Angled Satin Moth, Underside

Class: Insecta 

Order: Lepidoptera: 

Family: Geometridae

Thalaina angulosa

This beautiful moth was attracted to my kitchen window light on an autumn evening. This moth has satin-like white wings. The forewing has a stark orange line pattern on it. The orange lines have a black margin, making the pattern stand out on the white background. The hindwing is mostly white with a black wavy patch on it.
The pattern of the orange line is specific to this moth. It can be easily confused with Thalania clara. The orange line of T. angulosa runs from almost parallel to the margin of the forewing (base to the centre of the margin) T. clara can be seen here 

Reference: butterflyhouse.com.au/

Heliotrope Moth: Utetheisa pulchelloides

Class: Insecta 

Order: Lepidoptera 

Family: Arctiidae 

Subfamily: Arctiinae 

Utetheisa pulchelloides

This pretty moth was my nighttime kitchen window visitor on a fine spring evening. This moth is small with a wingspan of about 4 cms. It has white wings with beautiful orange and black spots. The costal margin of the forewing has a broken orange line, the fringe has dark spots. The underside of the moth also has black and orange pattern. 

Reference: butterflyhouse.com.au

Trichoplusia lectula

Location: Bunbury

Season Winter

Class: Insecta 

Order: Lepidoptera 

Family: Noctuidae 

Trichoplusia lectula

This unglamourous drab moth was found on our window one sunny afternoon. This moth has dark brown forewings and pale hind wings. When the moth rests, the folded forewings have a pattern resembling horns. It looks like the moth has horns on its back. There is a cream line from the base to the edge of the forewing. 

Reference: Butterflyhouse.com.au

Australian Painted Lady: Vanessa (Cynthia) kershawi

Location: Leschenault, Western Australia

Season: late autumn

Order: Lepidoptera 

Family: Nymphalidae 

Tribe: Nymphalini 

Genus: Vanessa 

Subgenus: Cynthia 

Vanessa (Cynthia) kershawi

Genus Vanessa, which has 20 species worldwide, three of which occur in Australia, the Australian Painted Lady V. kershawi, the Painted Lady V. cardui and the Yellow Admiral. The Australian Painted Lady and the Painted Lady are very similar but different classified as two separate species. There are 10 differences in the wing pattern alone. Among the distinguishing features of Australian Painted Lady, here are a few (as seen in above picture)
-has a darker overall colour with orange-brown markings
-there are 3 ocelli (eye spots) in the hind wing with blue pupil
-black apex of the hind wing merges with the 4th eye spot
-the black apex of the forewing has 4 white spots
-white bar running down the costa
-black antenna with white tips

V. kershawi prefers an arid environment which is stressful for the butterfly. This stress induces a colour modification which makes V. kershawi phenotypically different from V. cardui making it a separate species. When pupae of V.cardui were subjected to similar stresses, the emerging adults showed darker colour and blue eye spots. This phenotypical plasticity is said to be responsible for the evolution of the species V. kershawi.

References:
lepidoptera
wikipedia
pubmed
learnaboutbutterflies

Common Brown Butterfly: Heteronympha merope

Underside of the wing of Common Brown Butterfly

Common Brown Butterfly

Location: Margaret River, Western Australia

Season: Summer, December

Class: Insecta 

Order: Lepidoptera 

Family: Nymphalidae 

Genus: Heteronympha 

Species: H. merope

Common Brown Butterfly is common in the Southern half of Australia. It is an orangish brown butterfly with brownish black markings. The males are less colourful and have less white markings than the female. Both sexes have an eye-spot on each of the four wings.

Common Brown butterfly is of ecological significance and an indicator of climate change. The butterfly is appearing earlier each year (10 days earlier than it did 65 years ago). It is now seen in new regions which was previously too cold for it to survive

Reference: Climate watch

Australian Geographic