13 September 2011

40 new species are

’d on the Identification pages this Update and 12 new moths I have been unable to identify

’d on the Unidentified page. Pretty good for the winter period. Though, I must say not quite so colourful as the wet season ‘catch’.

Some highlights:

 

Last Update it was E. salaminia with the underwings showing. This time it’s the female E. cocalus.

The collateral of the Update is the artistic work of leaf-miners captured in the dry bush at one of our Toll Road sites.

And in the low muddy water-hole not far away was a couplet of water-lilies.

Some more success on the artistic front to report. My moth-art is still on the winner’s list with Alcides and Praesos at the Mareeba art show and Spieredonia at the Cairns Show visual arts awards winning the digital sections. (Images in April Update)

I have new work ready for Innifail Art Show and also the Cairns Art Society’s annual exhibition (first time for three years they have allowed digital art!)

Two of my entries:

Reflecting on a moth garden

Cizara Royale

My second new knee is going gang-busters. Have already been out on 4 collecting trips with Dave Rentz with no discomfort or  ill-effects.

Til next update

                                                                                                            Cheers Buck

Plectophila ANIC 15

Trigonoorda gavisalis

Eudocima cocalus

Piloprepes aemulella

Macroglossum insipida

Condica praesecta

Aglaosoma variegata

Abraxas flavimacula

Anassodes mesozonalis

Oenochroma infantilis

Eudocima salaminia

Coequosa australasiae

Nausinoe globulipedalis

Pycnarmon jaguaralis

Haritalodes derogata

Chalcidoptera emissalis

Epicoma contristis

13 June 2011

There are 55 new species or variants

’d on the Identification pages this Update and 12 new moths I have been unable to identify

’d on the Unidentified page.

Impossible to choose a moth of the Update as there have been so many striking new sightings for me in this period. So, a selection of my favourites, again displaying my penchant for the graphic look, would include:

Yes, I’ve had E. salaminia before but this is my first shot with those vibrant underwings showing.

The collateral of the Update would have to be this beautiful Boyd’s water dragon that Dave pointed out to me at Wongabel State Forest.

Some success on the artistic front to report.

I entered some of my new work into Light Space Time Online Gallery’s June competition, ‘Nature’. Pachynoa finished in the top 10 from 498 entries from 15 different countries. John R Math, president: ‘Your art is outstanding and you should be very proud that yours was chosen out of 498 entries from around the world.’ Well John, I am, just a little bit.

Also had a sale at Artists of the North Exhibition at the Tanks Art Centre in Cairns, Spirama.

Finally I’ve had the call from the hospital to get my other knee replaced on 29 June. Good timing from a mothing point of view with recovery over the two leanest, winter months.

Til next update

                                                                                                            Cheers Buck

20 April 2011

This mothing season continues to be a beauty.

There are another 77 new species or variants

’d on the Identification pages this Update and 12 new moths I have been unable to identify

’d on the Unidentified page. Many thanks to those who suggested identifications from last Update’s Unidentifieds, in particular Egbert Friedrich.

Moth of the Update would have to be this magnificent specimen of Lyssa macleayi.

Two runners up also show my penchant for the graphic look. The first was found on our night sheet just down the road at Windy Hollow: Cizara ardeniae and the second from Stanton Road Smithfield (also where L. macleayi was found): Targalla scelerata.

When Dave Rentz and I go night sheeting there are always some good collaterals - other than moths. Once the sheets are set up and we wait for dark Dave goes through the bush swinging his net from side to side through the grasses. I’m on the lookout for colour and clouds and anything else that catches the eye. Nearly everywhere we go has some fungal delight too.

      

And after dark Dave will call me over to other finds like butterflies and dragonflies.

The other highlight over this period was the appearance of Mr Ed. Eve and I have been living here for some 30 years. The wonder of the place is that there is always something new. Mr Ed is the first sighting of a cassowary on our land. What a delight! Though I must say that having a wild animal that is nearly as tall as yourself suddenly appear behind you while chasing a butterfly in the yard is somewhat unnerving.

And I’ve been stirring on the artistic front with several new pieces ready for the coming shows and competitions. A couple of samples from what I am calling my Mothematical Abstraction series.

Til next update

                                                                                                            Cheers Buck

December 2011

A very merry Xmoth to all.

My Xmoth twee. (And yes I do know there’s a wogue birdwing in there.)

When Dave Rentz was in the US receiving his Ig-Nobel award, I took to doing a circuit of Buck’s backyard each night searching for examples of Blattodea - Dave has taken on the daunting task of writing ‘The Guide’ - to get him to hurry up and come home. (Dave news can be found on his erudite blog.) Well, as it happens I would never have found my own resident frogs without getting out there. Here are my favourites though the last cute little fellow was taken on a collecting trip to Emerald Creek falls.

This two panel piece, Frogs among the gingers, was my entry for the PostCard Show at the Cairns Regional Gallery in December.

Moth News: 60 new species are

’d on the Identification pages this Update and 19 new moths I have been unable to identify

’d on the Unidentified page.

Some highlights:

I’m putting a few of my unidentified ‘catch’ up front this Update in the hope that it will entice someone more qualified than myself to examine the Unidentified page. Help??

A couple of collateral shots from the travels of Rentz and Richardson:

Many years ago we would sit on our verandah scoffing mandarins pinging off the seeds into the adjacent garden. There’s now quite a few citrus saplings poking their noses through the Clerodendrum and this year we’ve had our first crop . . . of Papilio. First it was P. ambrax and just in time for this Update, P aegeus, the Orchard butterfly.

We’re also awaiting the arrival of a Cairns Birdwing at Dave’s place.

Some more success on the artistic front to report. My moth-art is still doing well with Cizara Royale a winner at the Innisfail art show and Reflecting on a moth garden selling at the Kuranda Art Cooperative’s Art Fest Exhibition. (Images in September Update)

Also at this year’s Blunt Edge portrait exhibition - Cairns’ answer to the Archibald where artist’s do portraits of each other when names are drawn from a hat - Paula Broughton shared a prize for her portrait of me - ironically, apart from Paula’s excellent work, it had to do with my looking like the quintessential Aussie bloke, something with which I cannot identify - and my portrait of Roland Nancarrow was chosen for the Best of Blunt 2011 exhibition on the Kick Arts feature wall at the Centre of Contemporary Art in Cairns during January.

 

 

Til next update, have a great 2012!

                                                                                                            Cheers Buck

Ochyrotica kurandica

Code 003

Code 001

Hednota bivitella

Eustixis sp. ANIC 4

Enispa violacea

Armactica columbina

Parasoidea paroa

Code 011

Code 018

Code 013

Code 019

Nepenthes mirabilis near Bramston Beach

Fungus on dead log, Mt Baldy