Agrotis infusa
Bogong Moths belong to the Family Noctuidae and are well known in south-eastern Australia for their mass migration in spring. In some years, they have descended upon cities such as Sydney and Canberra in their thousands, causing disruption around outdoor sports grounds and to air-conditioning plants.
During winter, Bogongs feed inland as black cutworms on seedlings of wide-leafed plants in an area ranging from southern Queensland to South Australia. During spring, they fly south to south-eastwards, to caves in the Snowy Mountains, where they remain inactive (aestivation) throughout the summer months.
These caves were known to Aboriginal people, who used the moths as an important source of protein. The adult moths are also important in the diet of the Mountain Pygmy Possum (Burramys). Later in the year the Bogongs return to their breeding grounds to mate and lay eggs.
Recently concern has mounted about arsenic levels in the Bogong Moths. The arsenic is present at low levels in the soil of their larval pasturelands and is stored in the body of the adult moth. When the moths die off in their caves, the arsenic leaches from their bodies into the local soil. The arsenic becomes concentrated because of the build-up of dead moths on the floor of the cave over many years. The arsenic could potentially adversely affect their predators, including the Mountain Pygmy Possum, but this has not yet been fully demonstrated.
Copyright © Australian Museum, 2003
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