Mothra

One evening last weekend, I was sitting in my office when I heard something flapping/tapping on the window. It was pitch black outside, and the lights from my office had attracted a couple of bugs, including this beauty:

It was a good sized moth. The abdomen was as thick as my index finger and nearly as long. The wingspan looked to be about four inches, maybe even five. I mentioned the sighting on Facebook, and a friend who lives nearby identified it as a Bogong moth. She said there'd been quite a few hanging around her place a few nights before.

After reading a little about them online, I learned that their caterpillar/grubs are sometimes a garden pest here. I've many times found really big grubs in my pot plants, and suspect now that it's Bogong caterpillars I've been finding. Yet one more thing to chomp away at my perennials.  Oh well...

I guess I could have my revenge if I wanted it. Aboriginal peoples used to roast and eat them - and I read that the flavour is somewhat nut-like.  Nah... I'm not quite THAT adventurous.