Endangered
Bogong moth
Agrotis infusa
Bogong moth is an owlet moth in the family Noctuidae (order Lepidoptera) — Agrotis infusa, recorded as Endangered and tied to Australia.
Appearance
Adult bogong moths have an overall dark brown colouration, with a dark stripe interrupted by two light-coloured spots on the wings, distinguishing it from other moths. There are visual differences between the migratory and nonmigratory forms of the moth. Migratory moths have brown hind wings while nonmigratory moths have paler hind wings. Caterpillars initially start out with a pale colouration, but as they grow and consume food they become green with pale and dark stripes and spots.
Bogong moths have a wingspan of 40–50 mm (1.6-2.0 in), and a body length of around 25–35 mm (1-1.4 in).
Range and habitat
Bogong moth populations are primarily located across southern Australia, west of the Great Dividing Range. During the spring season and subsequent summer aestivation, bogong moths migrate south or east towards the Australian Alps, and can be found in the Australian Capital Territory and Bogong Mountains. Even so, bogong moths can also be found in locations as far as Tasmania and New Zealand due to strong winds that blow them off their path.
Pins are Wikidata “endemic to” fields. Orange dots, when present, are GBIF occurrence tiles — survey bias included.
Diet and breeding
Adult bogong moths lay up to 2000 eggs in the soil or on plants near the soil after returning from aestivation sites in the autumn migration. Even so, the larvae go through fast growth during the spring, reaching the final instar in late August to September, soon before migration.
Adults emerge from the soil chambers and shortly after begin migration. During the spring, bogong moths feed and migrate south, where they aestivate during the summer. In autumn, the moths migrate again and return to their breeding grounds, laying eggs and dying.
In crisis
Starting around 1980 and accelerating rapidly after 2016, the bogong moth population has sharply declined as a result of increasingly severe droughts, along with increased temperatures in caves used by the moths for aestivation, both primarily resulting from anthropogenic climate change. In December 2021 the bogong moth was added to the IUCN Red List as an Endangered Species. In December 2021 the bogong moth was added to the IUCN Red List as an Endangered Species, based on a February 2021 assessment.
Named moths and butterflies with a high threat category are often known from a small range and a thin series. Host-plant loss leaves little to recount.
Bogong moth is Endangered on this catalog because that is the IUCN category stored on Wikidata. Confirm the official criteria and any later count on iucnredlist.org.
Sources
Written for this catalog from the English Wikipedia article on Bogong moth, Wikidata item Q285592. Family and order context is original field-guide writing about the group, not a copied assessment of this one species. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA. Not an IUCN assessment. Counts, when quoted, can change — confirm them on the recovery programme and on iucnredlist.org.
