Micronia aculeata

That night coming home for dinner I spotted this moth on our kitchen floor. Being a pretty common moth around my house I assumed that I will get lot of information about this white moth. It was sitting on the vitrified floor tile which I have used in my kitchen. Dark clay color of the tile was a great contrast to the white, grey moth. Unfortunately the profile picture of the moth was impossible to get as it was sitting as though it was firmly stuck to the tile. That is why you see the picture from one angle here. I used Canon EOS 5D mark II with Canon EF 100mm F2.8L USM Macro lens illuminated with Canon Speedlite 580EXII fitted with ExpoImaging Ray Flash Adapter.

Micronia aculeata

When I searched internet for the information about this moth, I drew blank. Even thoughit is so common we hardly know anything about it. This Micronia aculeata moth belongs to Uraniidae family of moths. Unfortunately I could not find any common name for this moth. Some have called it Wayanad greystripe moth. It is found throughout India, China, Taiwan, SriLanka, Burma; Andaman, Java and Borneo. The adult moths of this species have speckled pale brown wings with two faint darker submarginal bands. Each forewing has a hooked apex, and at the tornus of each hindwing there is a short tail with a black spot.

Micronia aculeata

Like many moths in the family Uraniidae, the moth has its wings open and flat in its resting posture. It is also a day flying moth. Thanks to Haneesh K.M we have Life cycle of Micronia aculeata on Flickr. Host plant for its caterpillar is Green Milkweed Climber Wattakaka volubilis.

Fulvous Forest Skimmer - Female

I found these female Fulvous Forest Skimmer (Neurothemis fulvia) dragonfly roosting on a dry branch in our kitchen garden. Two of these female dragonflies were sitting there continuously in the same position for 6 days without a break. It was raining heavily during that period and I could get only a short time to photograph these beauties. They flew off on the 6th days and not to be seen since then. The position they were sitting was so awkward. To take good photograph in such a corner was impossible without disturbing their roost. So I could not get any frontal view of them. What was unusual with these specimens were that they lacked irregular transparent areas which are so characteristic of this type of dragonfly species.

Fulvous Forest Skimmer (Neurothemis fulvia) is a medium sized rusty colored dragonfly with transparent wing tips. Male is reddish brown where as the female is paler brown in color.

Fulvous Forest Skimmer Closeup

Male has a reddish brown face with eyes which are dark reddish brown above, golden brown below. Thorax, abdomen and legs are reddish brown. Wings are dark reddish brown with an irregular triangular transparent area at the tip of the wing. The wing spots are dark reddish brown.

Many forms of females are found. Color of head, thorax and abdomen paler than males or rusty brown. Wings are clear amber yellow with a dark ray extending to the tip in fore wing. Many of them have a irregular triangular transparent area at the tip of the wing. As I mentioned earlier these two specimens did not have those irregular transparent areas.

Fulvous Forest Skimmer - Female

It is a dragonfly of wet forests. Usually perches on fallen logs and shrubs. A large number of them can be found together in canopy gaps and forest edges. However, during the wet season, they move out of forested areas to non-forested bits.

Fulvous Forest Skimmer - Female

It breeds in marshes associated with forest streams and rivers. They are found throughout the year. However, large number can be seen between May-September.

Fulvous Forest Skimmer - Female

Blue Tiger Moth - Dysphania palmyra

Even though that evening was drizzling I was trying to photograph Black Drongos (Dicrurus macrocercus) which were busy catching insects during late evening. Light was fading but my new Canon EF 300mm f/2.8L IS lens was able to get many pictures albeit in slower speed. As I came back to my In-laws house I saw this day flying moth which flew and sat on the metal box outside their home.

Even though I was not able to reach the box which was sufficiently high I got my trusty rig of Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM on Canon EOS 5D mark II fitted with ExpoImaging Ray Flash Adapter on Canon Speedlite 580EXII Flash out to shoot this moth. The metal box where it was sitting was a rusty one. The biggest challenge was to reduce the reflection of the flash from the metal box. The ring flash adapter helped me by diffusing the light evenly to produce a pleasant lighting.

Blue Tiger Moth - Dysphania palmyra

This is a very common moth we see around here. It is also one of the few day flying moths as most moths fly in the dark hours of night. It is called by various names as Blue Tiger moth, Four O’clock Moth, Peacock Jewel moth. This Dysphania palmyra species of moth belongs to the Family Geometridae. The inch worm caterpillar which I posted a year back belong to the same family of moths.

Many Geometrids have slender abdomens and broad wings which are usually held flat with the hindwings visible. As such they appear rather butterfly-like but in most respects they are typical moths: the majority fly at night, they possess a frenulum to link the wings and the antennae of the males are often feathered. They tend to blend in to the background, often with intricate, wavy patterns on their wings. In some species, females have reduced wings and are flightless (e.g. winter moth and fall cankerworm).

Most are of moderate size, about 3 cm across but a range of sizes occur. They have distinctive paired tympanal organs at the base of the abdomen (lacking in flightless females).

Blue Tiger Moth - Dysphania palmyra

The name Geometer (earth-measurer) refers to the means of locomotion of the larvae or caterpillars, which lack most of the prolegs of other Lepidopteran caterpillars. Equipped with appendages at both ends of the body, a caterpillar will clasp with its front legs and draw up the hind end, then clasp with the hind end (prolegs) and reach out for a new front attachment – creating the impression that it is measuring its journey. The caterpillars are accordingly called loopers, spanworms, or inchworms. They tend to be green, grey, or brownish and hide from predators by fading into the background or resembling twigs. Some have humps or filaments (see Filament-bearer image). They are seldom hairy or gregarious. Typically they eat leaves. However, some eat lichen, flowers or pollen. Some, such as the Eupithecia, are even carnivorous.

Blue Tiger Moth - Dysphania palmyra