2016 July 12

   Jeremy Tatum shows a photograph of a Nycteola species reared from a caterpillar found at Blenkinsop Lake, where the moth was released today.  The species N. frigidana and N. cinereana can be difficult to tell apart.  It is often thought that the caterpillar of the former feeds on willow, and the latter feeds on poplar. I have often felt a little uncertain about that, because willow-feeding caterpillars often feed on poplar as well, and vice versa.  Anyway, I am pretty sure that this moth is Nycteola cinereana, although the caterpillar was found and reared on willow, not poplar, so the above rule is evidently not completely watertight, and not to be relied on for identification.

Nycteola cinereana (Lep.: Nolidae)    Jeremy Tatum

   Two more colouful photographs of a leafcutter bee, in Gorge Park, from Annie Pang:

Megachile perihirta (Hym.: Megachilidae)  Annie Pang

Megachile perihirta (Hym.: Megachilidae)  Annie Pang

   Aziza Cooper reports a Western Spring Azure from Brighton Avenue, July 12.  This is just two days after another one was seen in Sidney (See July 10).