List of moths of Australia

Updated on Sep 26, 2024

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Australian moths represent between 20,000 and 30,000 different types of moths. In comparison, there are only 400 species of Australian butterflies. The moths (mostly nocturnal) and butterflies (mostly diurnal) together make up the taxonomic order Lepidoptera. Scientifically, these moths are organised into about 80 families, but the status of some is controversial and several recent changes have been suggested.

This is a list of moth species which have been recorded in Australia. The list covers the continent of Australia and Tasmania and includes islands close to the mainland.

This page provides a link to detailed lists of these moths by family. If a family is endemic to Australia, the link redirects to a description of the family itself.

Families

Adelidae

Agathiphagidae

Only one Australian species is known: Agathiphaga queenslandensis Dumbleton, 1952

Agonoxenidae

Only one Australian species is known: Agonoxena phoenicia Bradley, 1966

Alucitidae

Anomosetidae

Anthelidae

Arctiidae

Argyresthiidae (mostly treated as a subfamily of Yponomeutidae)

Only one Australian species is known: Argyresthia notoleuca (Turner, 1913)

Arrhenophanidae

Only one Australian species is known: Notiophanes fuscata Davis and Edwards, 2003

Batrachedridae

Blastobasidae

Blastodacnidae (sometimes included in Agonoxenidae)

Bombycidae

Only three Australian species are known: Bombyx mori (Linnaeus, 1758), Gastridiota adoxima (Turner, 1902) and an unnamed Elachyophthalma species.

Brachodidae

Bucculatricidae

Carposinidae

Carthaeidae

Castniidae

Choreutidae

Coleophoridae

Copromorphidae

Cosmopterigidae

Cossidae

Cyclotornidae

Depressariidae (mostly considered a subfamily of Oecophoridae)

Drepanidae

Douglasiidae

Only one Australian species is known: Tinagma leucanthes Meyrick, 1897

Dudgeoneidae

Elachistidae

Epermeniidae

Epipyropidae

Eriocottidae

Only one Australian species is known: Eucryptogona trichobathra Lower, 1901

Ethmiidae

Eupterotidae

Galacticidae

Gelechiidae

Geometridae

Glyphipterigidae

Gracillariidae

Heliocosma group

Heliodinidae

Heliozelidae

Hepialidae

Herminiidae (mostly considered a subfamily of Noctuidae)

Hyblaeidae

Hypertrophidae (mostly considered a subfamily of Oecophoridae)

Immidae

Incurvariidae

Lacturidae

Lasiocampidae

Lecithoceridae

Limacodidae

Lophocoronidae

Lymantriidae

Lyonetiidae

Macropiratidae (mostly treated as a subfamily of Pterophoridae)

Only one Australian species is known: Agdistopis halieutica (Meyrick, 1932)

Micronoctuidae

Only few Australian species are known: Duplex horakae Fibiger, 2010, Duplex edwardsi Fibiger, 2010, Duplex pullata Fibiger, 2010, Duplex cockingi Fibiger, 2010 and Flax kalliesi Fibiger, 2011. Records for Tolpia conscitulana Walker, 1863 and Tolpia myops Hampson, 1907, formerly included in Noctuidae, are based on misidentifications.

Micropterigidae

The following Australian species are known: Austromartyria porphyrodes (Turner, 1932), Aureopterix sterops (Turner, 1921) and the species in the Tasmantrix genus.

Momphidae

Only an unnamed Zapyrastra species is known.

Nepticulidae

Noctuidae (including Aganaidae and Nolidae)

Notodontidae

Oecophoridae

Oenosandridae

Opostegidae

Palaeosetidae

Only one Australian species is known: Palaeoses scholastica Turner, 1922.

Palaephatidae

Plutellidae

Psychidae

Pterophoridae

Pyralidae (including Crambidae)

Roeslerstammiidae

Saturniidae

Scythrididae

Sesiidae

Simaethistidae

Only two Australian species are known: Metaprotus asuridia (Butler, 1886) and Metaprotus magnifica (Meyrick, 1887)

Sphingidae

Symmocidae

Only one Australian species is known: Nemotyla oribates Nielsen, McQuillan & Common, 1992

Thyrididae

Tineidae

Tineodidae

Tortricidae

Uraniidae

Yponomeutidae

Zygaenidae

References

List of moths of Australia Wikipedia

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