Originally posted by Sniffer
wow, thank you very much for the information, reading up on them now, is it an australian moth?
The page I was looking at didn't say it was, however when talking about flying little critters like moths, there's a lot of things to consider even
if it isn't classified as Australian...
+ The winds as I understand it blow from East to West in the southern hemiphere (generally considering El Nino and Corellis Effect) so if they're
South American, it doesn't take a great stretch of the imagination to say that they did some island hopping. We've got Galapagos, Philippines,
Caroline Islands, Marshal Islands and so forth on the way. Looking at the wing to body ratio, it looks safe to assume they're good flyers (unlike
diamondback moths) especially with the wind at their backs.
+ Next is adult moth shipping. Being that moths like dark places, it wouldn't be difficult for one of them to hide on a ship or airplane cargo area
traveling across continents.
+ Then there's moth eggs, which if were on a plant, cardboard box, piece of tape, waxpaper, etc. that was transported could produce a hundred or so
larvae to kick-off a population.
+ The page says they're not 'shy' by any means. It doesn't appear they flee from humans or fear daylight. That kind of aggressive expansion
means it has a wider area of coverage. A good example of that are pigeons. They're everywhere in cities, most don't care you're there and are
looking for you to toss some food. But, do you see goldfinches hanging out on the sidewalks? Not so much.
+ Finally there are soooo many species of moths, we're still trying to classify them all. Could be a distant cousin no one has heard of. What makes
a species different from another? Well, with mammals it's fairly easy. Insects...not so much.
Determining a location is more important for larger animals than small ones. If you lived in the Amazon jungle and said you saw a bison, then I'd
raise an eyebrow.
I'm not an entomologist, so I'd certainly welcome any correction from one. I merely work with them as bioreactors for protein synthesis.
[edit on 11-10-2007 by saint4God]