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The Bogong moth (Agrotis infusa) is a temperate species
Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring....
 of night-flying moth
Moth

A moth is an insect closely related to the butterfly, both being of the Order Lepidoptera. The differences between butterflies and moths are more than just taxonomy....
 notable for appearing in large numbers around major public buildings in Canberra
Canberra

Canberra is the List of Australian capital cities of Australia. With a population of over 340,000, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth largest Australian city overall....
, the capital city
Capital City

Capital City was a television show produced by Euston Films which focused on the lives of investment bankers in London living and working on the corporate trading floor for the fictional international bank Shane-Longman....
 of Australia
Australia

Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the southern hemisphere comprising the Australia of the world's smallest continent, the major island of Tasmania, and numerous list of islands of Australia in the Indian Ocean and Pacific Oceans....
, during spring (late September to November). The moth's name is reported as having come from their occurrence on granite
Granite

Granite is a common and widely occurring type of Intrusion , felsic, igneous rock rock . Granite has a medium to coarse texture, occasionally with some individual crystals larger than the groundmass forming a rock known as Porphyry ....
 mountains - known as "Bogongs" by local Indigenous Australians
Indigenous Australians

Indigenous Australians are the first human inhabitants of the Australian continent and its nearby islands and their descendants. Indigenous Australians are distinguished as either Australian Aborigines or Torres Strait Islanders, who currently together make up about 2.6% of Australia's population....
, and said to be the translation of the word "Canberra
Canberra

Canberra is the List of Australian capital cities of Australia. With a population of over 340,000, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth largest Australian city overall....
" in the Ngunawal language of those locals.

Ecology and life cycle
The Bogong moth Agrotis infusa is common throughout southern Australia.






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Encyclopedia


The Bogong moth (Agrotis infusa) is a temperate species
Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring....
 of night-flying moth
Moth

A moth is an insect closely related to the butterfly, both being of the Order Lepidoptera. The differences between butterflies and moths are more than just taxonomy....
 notable for appearing in large numbers around major public buildings in Canberra
Canberra

Canberra is the List of Australian capital cities of Australia. With a population of over 340,000, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth largest Australian city overall....
, the capital city
Capital City

Capital City was a television show produced by Euston Films which focused on the lives of investment bankers in London living and working on the corporate trading floor for the fictional international bank Shane-Longman....
 of Australia
Australia

Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the southern hemisphere comprising the Australia of the world's smallest continent, the major island of Tasmania, and numerous list of islands of Australia in the Indian Ocean and Pacific Oceans....
, during spring (late September to November). The moth's name is reported as having come from their occurrence on granite
Granite

Granite is a common and widely occurring type of Intrusion , felsic, igneous rock rock . Granite has a medium to coarse texture, occasionally with some individual crystals larger than the groundmass forming a rock known as Porphyry ....
 mountains - known as "Bogongs" by local Indigenous Australians
Indigenous Australians

Indigenous Australians are the first human inhabitants of the Australian continent and its nearby islands and their descendants. Indigenous Australians are distinguished as either Australian Aborigines or Torres Strait Islanders, who currently together make up about 2.6% of Australia's population....
, and said to be the translation of the word "Canberra
Canberra

Canberra is the List of Australian capital cities of Australia. With a population of over 340,000, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth largest Australian city overall....
" in the Ngunawal language of those locals.

Ecology and life cycle


The Bogong moth Agrotis infusa is common throughout southern Australia. These brown to blackish moths have a wingspan of approximately 45 millimetres. Adults make lengthy migrations to spend summer months in large congregations in caves and crevices of rocks in the Australian Alps
Australian Alps

The Australian Alps are the highest mountain ranges of mainland Australia. They are located in south-eastern Australia and straddle the Australian Capital Territory, south-eastern New South Wales and eastern Victoria, Australia....
, notably in the region of the Bogong High Plains
Bogong High Plains

The Bogong High Plains are a section of the Alpine National Park in the Australian state of Victoria and are situated south of Mount Bogong. This area forms part of Australia's Great Dividing Range and in winter is one of the largest snow covered areas in the country....
 in Victoria
Victoria (Australia)

File:Map Victoria Aboriginal tribes .jpgVictoria is a States and territories of Australia located in the southeastern corner of Australia. It is the smallest mainland state in area but the most Population density and urbanised....
. They are attracted to lights, like those seen at night in the Sydney and Canberra areas. They were notable in broadcasts of the Sydney 2000 Olympics Opening Ceremony
2000 Summer Olympics Opening Ceremony

The Opening Ceremony of the 2000 Summer Olympics was described by IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch as the most beautiful ceremony the world has ever seen....
 on 15 September. Large numbers may enter houses or other buildings to rest during the day. In winter, adults disperse to pastures across inland New South Wales
New South Wales

New South Wales is Australia's oldest and most populous States and territories of Australia, located in the south-east of the country, north of Victoria and south of Queensland....
 and Queensland
Queensland

Queensland is a States and territories of Australia of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory to the west, South Australia to the south-west and New South Wales to the south....
 to lay their eggs.

This subfamily are characterised by their stoutly built bodies covered with long dense scales.

The larvae, collectively known as cutworms, are also stoutly built. They feed on a wide variety of plants (see list below). The name cutworm comes from the larvae's habit of cutting off plant parts during the night which they drag back to their burrows in the soil as food.

The Bogong moth is univoltine (i.e. it has one generation per year). The Lepidoptera
Lepidoptera

Lepidoptera is an order of insect that includes moths and butterfly. It is one of the most speciose orders in the class Insecta, encompassing moths and the three superfamilies of butterfly, skipper , and Hedylidae....
n life cycle
Biological life cycle

A life cycle is a period involving one generation of an organism through means of reproduction, whether through asexual reproduction or sexual reproduction....
 consists of four stages; ova (eggs), several larva
Larva

A larva is a young form of animal with indirect developmental biology, going through or undergoing metamorphosis .The larva can look completely different from the adult form, for example, a caterpillar differs from a butterfly....
l instar
Instar

An instar is a developmental stage of arthropods, such as insects, between each ecdysis , until sexual maturity is reached. Arthropods must shed the exoskeleton in order to grow or assume a new form....
s (caterpillars), pupa
Pupa

A pupa is the life stage of some insects undergoing transformation. The pupal stage is found only in Holometabolism insects, those that undergo a complete metamorphosis, going through four life stages; embryo, larva, pupa and imago....
 (cocoon), and imagines
Imago

In biology, the imago is the last stage of development of an insect, after the last ecdysis of an incomplete metamorphosis , or after emergence from the pupa where the metamorphosis is complete....
 (adults).

Cultural uses

Indigenous Australians living in south eastern Australia were known to have feasted on the moths, benefiting from their rich fat reserves, when the moths were plentiful. The moths were generally roasted and eaten whole. This cultural use is no longer practised. The term "Urri Arra" refers to the Bogong moth feasts that these Aboriginal people held.

A town, Bogong, in the Victoria
Victoria (Australia)

File:Map Victoria Aboriginal tribes .jpgVictoria is a States and territories of Australia located in the southeastern corner of Australia. It is the smallest mainland state in area but the most Population density and urbanised....
 state of Australia
Australia

Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the southern hemisphere comprising the Australia of the world's smallest continent, the major island of Tasmania, and numerous list of islands of Australia in the Indian Ocean and Pacific Oceans....
 has been named after the moth
Moth

A moth is an insect closely related to the butterfly, both being of the Order Lepidoptera. The differences between butterflies and moths are more than just taxonomy....
.

Infestations

At the start of October 2007 Bogong moths again invaded Sydney
Sydney

Sydney is the List of cities in Australia by population in Australia, with a metropolitan area population of approximately 4.34 million . It is the List of Australian capital cities of New South Wales, and was the site of the first British Empire colony in Australia....
 city. They mainly gathered in the block around around the Governor Phillip Tower
Governor Phillip Tower

Governor Phillip Tower, Governor Macquarie Tower and the Museum of Sydney are the main elements of one of the largest developments in the City of Sydney....
, especially on the building on Phillip St housing the Prime Minister's Sydney office. They tend to gather in the corners and in niches in the sandstone buildings nearby.

Recorded host plants


  • Beta - Beet
    Beet

    The beet is a plant in the Amaranthaceae. It is best known its numerous cultivated varieties, the most well known of which is probably the red root vegetable known as the garden beet....
  • Brassica
    Brassica

    Brassica is a genus of plants in the mustard family . The members of the genus may be collectively known either as cabbages, or as mustards....
  • Hordeum - Barley
    Barley

    Barley is an annual plant cereal grain derived from the grass Hordeum vulgare. It serves as a major animal feed crop, with smaller amounts used for malting and in health food, as well as the making of alcoholic beverages beer and whisky....
  • Linum
    Linum

    Linum is a genus of about 200 species of flowering plants in the family Linaceae, native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. Among many other species, it includes the flax , the bast fibre of which is used to produce linen and the seeds to produce linseed oil....
     - Flax
  • Medicago - Alfalfa
    Alfalfa

    Alfalfa is a flowering plant in the pea family Fabaceae cultivated as an important forage crop. In the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand it is known as lucerne and as lucerne grass in south Asia....
  • Pisum
    Pisum

    Pisum is a genus of the family Fabaceae, native to southwest Asia and northeast Africa. It contains one to five species, depending on taxonomic interpretation; the International Legume Database accepts three species, one with two subspecies :...
     - Pea
  • Solanum
    Solanum

    Solanum, the nightshades, horsenettles and relatives, is a large and diverse genus of annual plant and perennial plants. They grow as forbs, vines, sub-shrubs, shrubs, and small trees, and often have attractive fruit and flowers....
  • Triticum - Wheat
    Wheat

    Wheat , is a worldwide cultivated Poaceae from the Levant region of the Middle East. Globally, after maize, wheat is the second most-produced food among the cereal just above rice....
  • Pinus - Radiata Pine


External links


  • - CSIRO Division of Entomology
    Entomology

    Entomology is the science study of insects. At some 1.3 million described species, insects account for more than two-thirds of all known organisms,date back some 400 million years, and have many kinds of interactions with humans and other forms of life on earth....


  • - abc.net.au/science/scribblygum


  • - Report in Sydney Morning Herald 10 October 2007