Tanya Loos
Last night I was driving home from work in light rain and I could see dozens of large moths in the car headlights struggling on the road, with bright red eye shine. Then at home these chunky furry moths beat at the windows confused by our internal lights. It was a rain moth night!
Abantiades atripalpis, also known as Bardi moth is a rain moth found across southern Australia.
Rain moths are in the genus Abantiades and our most common species locally are the labyrinthine ghost moth and the bardi moth. The moths are famous for predicting rain – as the adults pupate and emerge collectively from their underground burrows just before rain. How they know – no-one knows.
The caterpillars have been underground for literally years eating roots of mainly eucalyptus trees. Their adult lives are extremely short – a few days at most. In fact, the adult rain moth has no mouthparts. That’s right – their final form is not about sustaining their lives as adults – it’s all about breeding!
The rain is the essential part of the equation, as after mating the females fly about in the light rain scattering their eggs into the rain drops like a beautiful moth sky seeding exercise.
Rain moths have the distinction of holding the “World Fecundity Record” for the greatest number of eggs deposited by a non-social insect – one researcher counted 44,000 eggs in one female!
You can help our lovely rain moths, and indeed all of our local moths and insects by turning off external lights at night – sensor lights are a much more wildlife friendly option.
Tanya Loos is a local naturalist, author and environmental consultant who loves to work in the environmental not-for-profit sector. She is the author of “Daylesford Nature Diary” available from her website or from Paradise Books in Vincent Street, Daylesford.
Have you got any nature questions for Tanya? Send them in!
