''Abantiades atripalpis'', also known as bardee (bardy, bardi) grub, rain moth or waikerie, and previously known as ''Trictena atripalpis'', is a

moth Moths are a paraphyletic group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not butterflies, with moths making up the vast majority of the order. There are thought to be approximately 160,000 species of moth, many of w ...

of the family Hepialidae. It is found in the whole southern half of

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

Habitat

The rain moth is found right across southern Australia in

woodland A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with trees, or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the ''plurale tantum'' woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade (see ...

areas alongside creeks and gullies, especially near

eucalyptus ''Eucalyptus'' () is a genus of over seven hundred species of flowering trees, shrubs or mallees in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae. Along with several other genera in the tribe Eucalypteae, including '' Corymbia'', they are commonly known as euca ...

trees.

Larvae

The caterpillar is used extensively by fishermen as bait. This is where the common name "bardee", "bardi", "badee", or "bargi grub" is derived from. This name is also used for the

larva A larva (; plural larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle. The ...

of the beetle ''Bardistus cibarius'' (Cerambycidae), as well as various ground dwelling and wood boring moth larvae. The larvae live in tunnels, feeding on ''

Casuarina pauper ''Casuarina pauper'' is a tree from the family Casuarinaceae, native to a band across the drier, inland areas of southern Australia (). ''C. pauper'' is known as a poorer, stunted form of the closely related '' Casuarina cristata'' (). Common na ...

'' and ''

Eucalyptus ''Eucalyptus'' () is a genus of over seven hundred species of flowering trees, shrubs or mallees in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae. Along with several other genera in the tribe Eucalypteae, including '' Corymbia'', they are commonly known as euca ...

'' species, especially

Eucalyptus camaldulensis ''Eucalyptus camaldulensis'', commonly known as the river red gum, is a tree that is endemic to Australia. It has smooth white or cream-coloured bark, lance-shaped or curved adult leaves, flower buds in groups of seven or nine, white flowers an ...

. They are

herbivore A herbivore is an animal anatomically and physiologically adapted to eating plant material, for example foliage or marine algae, for the main component of its diet. As a result of their plant diet, herbivorous animals typically have mouthpart ...

Moth

The other common name, "rain moth", stems from the fact that adults often emerge after rain, typically in autumn, leaving the empty pupal cases sticking up out of the ground. The

wingspan The wingspan (or just span) of a bird or an airplane is the distance from one wingtip to the other wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777–200 has a wingspan of , and a wandering albatross (''Diomedea exulans'') caught in 1965 had a wingspan of ...

is up to for males and for females. The moths have fawn coloured wings with two silver flash markings across each fore wing. They can be the same size as a small

insectivorous A robber fly eating a hoverfly An insectivore is a carnivorous animal or plant that eats insects. An alternative term is entomophage, which can also refer to the human practice of eating insects. The first vertebrate insectivores were ...

bat, and owls often prey on them. The body reaches a length of 120 mm. The adult females produce a great number (up to 40,000) of eggs, which are scattered while flying. Their flight months are in Autumn (April to June).Jennings, J.T., Austin, A.D., Davies, K., Harvey, M., Hirst, D. & Taylor, G. 2009, Terrestrial Invertebrates. In: Jennings, J.T. (Ed.) Natural History of the Riverland and Murraylands. (Royal Society of South Australia Inc.), pp. 306-333.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Abantiades Atripalpis Hepialidae Moths of Australia Moths described in 1856