ANTHELIDAE are often known as Woolly bears.They are restricted to Australia and New Guinea with about 90 species, 74 named (8 genera).
They are generally large moths, ‘furry’ or ‘woolly’, antennae in males broadly pectinate to the tip, never bent; wings broad and hindwings usually large as well, females usually with large bodies, according to Dr Andreas Zwick, (NCMI), CSIRO Black Mountain, Environmental Sciences, who has also assisted us with other Anthelidae IDs – these are credited to Dr Zwick by showing (AZ) after the species name.
They are mostly stout woolly moths, usually with head and body well covered in long hair-like scales; their wings are held outstretched or back roof-wise over their body at rest; antennae are held back under wings at rest; wings are broad; hindwings usually nearly as large as forewings, both wings usually with a pattern of colours.
There is constant variation in both colouring and patterning within some Anthela species, often making visual ID quite difficult. To assist with certain IDs we include below the advice given to us by Dr Andreas Zwick to help take some of the uncertainty out of this task.
Caterpillars appear to have large heads with large eyes. They are very hairy, with the hairs arising from rows of raised verrucae along the back. The hairs can often cause skin irritation (urticaria) in sensitive people.
Dr Andreas Zwick has also provided us with the following information.
The Anthela astata/acuta complex is highly variable and shows a dazzling variety of colours and wing patterns, even within the offspring of a single female – anything from plain brown, grey and orange to strongly speckled.
This remarkable variability holds true also for A. excellens and others, although A. excellens is not closely related to A. astata/acuta complex. The A. astata/acuta complex includes a number of species (also A. ekeikei in New Guinea), many of which are either currently regarded as synonyms or undescribed. There are clear differences in male genital structures for some of them, but without examining primary type specimens for all described species (including synonyms) and using molecular data, it’s not possible to revise this variable complex. A. astata seems to refer to a larger species, A. acuta to a smaller species, but in both cases there are multiple species involved and there are intermediates in size, too. Hence, I generally refer to any of these species as the A. astata / acuta complex. Most, if not all, of your species seem to be smaller and probably A. acuta (or one of the many synonyms that should be valid species).
Anthela repleta is also very variable and includes multiple species that can be distinguished with morphological characters and molecular data, but again, primary type specimens would have to be examined to resolve this complex. A. repleta varies especially in its shades of brown and red, and in the degree of crenulation of the post medial line on the forewing. This said, the forewing almost always has a crenulate post media. In contrast, A. phoenicias is very distinctly reddish, plain in terms of markings and never has a post media on the forewing.
We thank the Authors of ‘Moths of the ACT’ 2022 for explaining that the one or two eyespots on each forewing of Anthela acuta and usually Anthela repleta, have a ‘light’ centre whereas those on Anthela varia usually have a plain dark centre.
We thank Dr Andreas Zwick for providing us with initial ID’s for these Anthelinae subfamily species.
