I'm up to 12 new moth species for our garden this year, thanks to the NZ moth identifiers on iNaturalist and the handy Compare tool on iNat. The Compare tool shows me what species are different between this year and my past years' mothing in my garden. It's handy.

Here are photos of four more of my newbies. These are more greys and browns. All are NZ endemic species.

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/compare?s=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%3D

#iNaturalistNZ #iNaturalist #moths #Mothodon #Ōtautahi #Christchurch #nz

Here's another of the six new moth species to my garden this year, in Ōtautahi-Christchurch, NZ. This one had me puzzled until NZ moth expert Neville Hduson from Auckland identified it this morning on #iNaturalist.

It's the Australian Wattle Gall Miner, *Polysoma eumetalla*, and this is the third record of it on #GBIF from the South Island.

It's a pretty wee thing but easily overlooked because it's tiny (see the second photo of it next to a green garden looper moth).

Remarkably, its caterpillars make their living mining inside galls on some Australian wattle trees, which in NZ are formed by the Australian rust fungus *Uromycladium tepperianum*.

#mothodon #moths #Lepidoptera #nz #entomology #insects #iNaturalistNZ

I've been looking closer and admiring the hair do on this tiny clothes moth. The rest of its body is a dull brown but its hair piece is orange.

A ginger toupee?

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