Easy identification of moths!

[flossiepip]

I really struggle to identify moths, though I have Andrew Crowe's wonderful book which NZ Insect they are nearly all illustrated with wings spread and not at rest. Is there a book showing moths at rest as this is how I mainly see them!
As a side issue we have just had the big storm pass through over two days here in Northland, before that the garden was alive with young Mantis but now can not find one. Would they all be casualties of the storm!

[GrahameNZ]

This is the best resource for the larger NZ moths
http://landcareresearch.co.nz/resources ... arge-moths
Welcome to an at times very frustrating world

[David Riddell]

If you want something showing moths at rest, the Friends of Te Henui have an excellent set of photos at http://www.terrain.net.nz/friends-of-te ... moths.html - an amazing site, run by a group who care for a walkway in Taranaki that has now developed into one of the best on-line guides to NZ wildlife of all kinds. Hosted by TERRAIN (Taranaki Educational Resource, Research, Analysis and Information Network), but covers pretty much the whole country.

As for the mantises, I presume like most places in the North Island these days you mostly have the South African species? (To compare with the NZ one, see http://www.terrain.net.nz/friends-of-te ... antis.html and http://www.terrain.net.nz/friends-of-te ... tis-2.html). It's hard to believe a single weather event could wipe them all out, but if they don't re-emerge over the next few days then off the top of my head it may be that the South African mantises don't like wet conditions - one of the few habitats the NZ mantises are holding their own is in wetlands.

[David Riddell]

Flossiepip, have you seen any mantises lately? Slowly dawning on me that I haven't seen many around here (Gordonton) lately either. But this afternoon there was a juvenile NZ mantis on our lemon tree, first I've seen in ages. Just wondering if all the rain (or something else) might have worked in their favour, though way too early to be at all sure of that - what are other people's mantises doing?

[Olwen]

Here in Island Bay Wellington we get quite a lot of NZ Mantis, and recently I've noticed (without specifically looking) 4 or 5 babies.

[flossiepip]

Hi David, yes we have mantises back however not in the same numbers. At a rough guess I would say perhaps 70/80% less than before. We have now had two major storms pass through with high levels of rain and very strong winds lasting for many days which is rather unusual for here in January. That said soon after seeing so many Mantis (very small young ones) there also appeared large numbers of hunting spiders so natural attrition of young mantises must be high without big storms in any normal year I would say that the storms must of played a large part in their demise though as days of very wet and stormy conditions must play a part. As a side issue we had a Californian quail in the garden with nine young before the storm and afterwards she had just three!
The link to the site on moths was superb giving photos of moths as I nearly always see them thanks. Tom

[David Riddell]

Can you tell if they're NZ or South African mantises?

[flossiepip]

All South African as I have never seen a NZ one in this garden so far!