Sunday 8 April 2018

Nigh on Invisible


An emerald moth.

I photographed this superbly camouflaged emerald moth (Geometridae) in the grounds of the old army base on North Head, Sydney. I don't know what species it is. There are several dozen emeralds in Australia, easily recognisable because of their green colour (more jade than emerald, it has to be said) and their characteristic jizz. Sitting flat and open on leaves like this is how you normally encouter them. You need to be sharp eyed to spot them. They all look rather similar in size, colour and pattern, so identifying them to species level isn't easy. Very similar Geometrids can be seen in Europe.

2 comments:

chm said...

Amazing! It looks more like some sort of fungus than a moth. It is probably what it was meant to be! Thank you for this stunning photo.

Sheila said...

Always learn something from you, Susan. Today, it's a butterfly's "jizz." It would be interesting to see this one's wings lifted since it appears to be so transparent in your great photo.

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