Lot Essay
The caterpillars of both uraniids illustrated on the first sheet feed on spurges (Euphorbiaceae), and the adults are probably chemically repellent. The brilliantly iridescent Alcides are day-flying and behave rather like hyperactive butterflies, keeping territories in forest clearings or beside watercourses, to dash out in pursuit of any large insect remotely like themselves. The noctuids include Erebus (15,16) and Phyllodes (13,14).
The large, reddish-pink marked moths in the central column of the second sheet are Phyllodes imperialis, a rainforest species that also occurs in Australia. The 'yellow underwing' moths include members of the fruit-piercing genus Othreis, often pests in Citrus groves, where their proboscides are strong enough to penetrate even the rind of an orange. Species of the genus Achaea have three bluish-white spots ranged around the margin of the hindwing (e.g. 5,6,19-22).
The large, reddish-pink marked moths in the central column of the second sheet are Phyllodes imperialis, a rainforest species that also occurs in Australia. The 'yellow underwing' moths include members of the fruit-piercing genus Othreis, often pests in Citrus groves, where their proboscides are strong enough to penetrate even the rind of an orange. Species of the genus Achaea have three bluish-white spots ranged around the margin of the hindwing (e.g. 5,6,19-22).