Ethan Beaver

Australian National University | ANU · Division of Evolution, Ecology and Genetics

The genus Metura Walker, 1855 is revised, with all species figured, diagnosed, and redescribed. Two new species are described from Australia: Metura phyllosacca sp. n. from south eastern Queensland and northeastern New South Wales, and M. falcata sp. n. from Lord Howe Island. The species Oiketicus aristocosma Lower, 1908 is here recognised as Metur...

The diversity and abundance of native invertebrates is declining globally, which could have significant consequences for ecosystem functioning. Declines are likely to be at least as severe as those observed for vertebrates, although often are difficult to quantify due to a lack of historic baseline data and limited monitoring effort. The Lepidopter...

Milkweed butterflies (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae: Danainae) are chemically defended and aposematic (Ackery and Vane Wright 1984). The chemical ecology of several species have been studied extensively, including the iconic and highly migratory Monarch Butterfly, Danaus plexippus (Brower and Glazier 1975; Boppré 1993). Danaine larvae feed on chemically...

The butterfly genus Ogyris Angas, 1847 consists of several striking but poorly resolved complexes endemic to Australia and New Guinea, many of which have an obligate association with ants. Here, we revise the systematics of the Ogyris aenone (Waterhouse, 1902) complex through an integrative taxonomic approach based on molecular phylogenetic analysi...

Lycaenid butterflies of the Ogyris idmo species group are endemic to Australia and obligatorily associated with Camponotus ants. Several species are threatened with extinction, but there are considerable uncertainties with the present classification. Here, the taxonomy of the species group is revised based on molecular and morphological data. Mitoc...

Hypochrysops piceatus Kerr, Macqueen & D.P.A. Sands, 1969 is currently known from a restricted area in south-eastern Queensland, Australia and is listed as Endangered under the Queensland Nature Conservation Act 1992. Although it is well-known that the larvae are monophagous, feeding exclusively on the foliage of mature (old growth) trees of Alloca...

My technical report focuses on the Lepidoptera recorded over the duration of the Far West Coast South Australia Bush Blitz expedition, the full report can be accessed here: https://bushblitz.org.au/far-west-coast-south-australia-2021/ and https://bushblitz.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Bush-Blitz-expedition-report.pdf The publication should b...

The rarely seen Bathromelas Turner 1947, a monotypic Australian endemic genus with the species Bathromelas hyaloscopa (Meyrick & Lower, 1907), is rediscovered, and a new description is provided. The male genitalia, female, pupae of both sexes, late instar larvae, and the unique case design are all figured and described for the first time. The larva...

Two new species, Abantiades concordia sp. nov. and Abantiades malleus sp. nov., are described from Australia. Both species were collected in the Eastern Goldfields subregion of the Coolgardie bioregion in Western Australia. Abantiades concordia sp. nov. is shown to be closely related to A. paradoxa (Tindale, 1932) by sequence similarity of the mtDN...

O. B. Lower described, in 1911, the hesperiine skipper Telicota augias mesoptis Lower, 1911, but he neither stated the number of specimens before him nor designated a holotype. Our investigations indicate that Lower had at least 11 syntypes (7 males, 4 females), which are now registered in the Australian Museum, Sydney and South Australian Museum,...

The species Clania photidias Meyrick and Lower, 1907 is here recognised as Pseudoclania photidias (Meyrick and Lower, 1907) comb. n. and is diagnosed and redescribed and compared with the Indonesian and Papua New Guinean fauna. The new combination represents the first time the genus Pseudoclania Bethune-Baker, 1915 has been recorded from Australia.

Details of external and genitalic morphology are described and illustrated for three male specimens of Oxycanus fuliginosa (Rothschild, 1915), a central highland species of Western Papua, New Guinea. Distinguishing features are documented for the genitalia and comparisons are made with other related genera. The absence of subanal sclerites in this...

Abantiades penneshawensis Moore & Beaver sp. nov. and Abantiades rubrus Moore & Beaver sp. nov. are described as new. Both species are endemic to Kangaroo Island, and although both are related to species that occur on the Australian mainland and other islands, they are distinguished from those sister and phenotypically similar species by morphology...

Abantiades cephalocorvus sp. nov. and Abantiades tembyi sp. nov. are described, along with the previously undescribed females of A. macropusinsulariae Simonsen, 2018 and A. pallida Simonsen, 2018. All of these species belong to a triforked Abantiades Herrich-Schäffer clade that is loosely centred around the Nullarbor and other arid regions of Austr...

Four new Aenetus Herrich-Schäffer species are described from northern Australasia; Aenetus simonseni sp. nov. from the top-end of the Northern Territory, Australia, A. maiasinus sp. nov. from the Kimberley region of Western Australia, A. trigonogrammus sp. nov. from south-eastern Queensland, Australia, and A. albadamanteum sp. nov. from eastern Pap...

A distinct group of Abantiades Herrich-Schäffer species is here confirmed as a valid clade that we refer to as the “dark obscura clade” supported by morphological and mtDNA evidence. The clade is the sister group of A. obscura Simonsen of north-western Australia and comprises four new species: Abantiades centralia sp. nov., A. kayi sp. nov., A. zon...

The species Fraus extremapodus sp. n. from Western Australia is described, illustrated and compared with the sympatric F. basidispina Nielsen and Kristensen, 1989 and F. polyspila (Meyrick, 1890). With a wingspan of 39 mm it is one of the largest species of Fraus Walker, 1856 and, compared to wing length, it has the longest legs of any Australian h...

Three new species of ghost moth, Oxycanus ephemerous sp. nov., O. flavoplumosus sp. nov., and O. petalous sp. nov. are described from South Australia, New South Wales, and southwest Western Australia, respectively. We illustrate these species and compare morphological and molecular (mtDNA COI gene) characters with similar Oxycanus Walker, 1856 spec...

Aenetus moorei sp. n. is described from Tasmania and compared with similar splendens group species of Aenetus Herrich-Schäffer such as A. ligniveren (Lewin, 1805) and A. tindalei Simonsen, 2018, which are illustrated. Further collecting of the splendens group species in South Australia has clarified aspects of the distribution and biology of both A...

Larvae of Aenetus (Hepialidae) were presented with pieces of fresh apple slices by carefully cutting open the upper section of the feeding web and inserting 10-30 mm-long rectangular sections of skinned apple into the cavity between the feeding web and callus but leaving enough room to allow the larva to enter and exit the bore freely

Aenetus bilineatus sp. n. is described from a single male from an unknown locality in New Guinea and compared with males of related Aenetus Herrich-Schäffer species from Papua New Guinea, Indonesia and northern Australia. The holotype is worn but several diagnostic characteristics are readily identified in comparison with similar species. Comparati...

It is difficult to associate species of the wood-boring moth in the genus Aenetus with their host plant, because larvae develop inside live trees. A new method is described for rearing larvae of Aenetus eximia, A. lewinii, A. blackburnii, A. ligniveren and A. scotti in cut stems of trees containing larval tunnels by feeding them apple pieces. Larva...