{"id":530066,"date":"2026-03-10T02:14:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-10T02:14:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/530066\/"},"modified":"2026-03-10T02:14:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T02:14:09","slug":"aussies-urged-to-look-for-tiny-white-marking-to-solve-years-long-mystery-of-iconic-creature","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/530066\/","title":{"rendered":"Aussies urged to look for tiny white marking to solve years-long mystery of iconic creature"},"content":{"rendered":"

Next time a moth gets trapped inside your home, take a close look at its wings before you help it outside. Your efforts could help prevent the extinction of one of Australia’s most important creatures.<\/p>\n

More than 14,700 bogong moths<\/a> living in Australia\u2019s High Country caves have been tagged with either white stickers or white paint to help solve a years-long mystery.<\/p>\n

For decades, the species was so numerous that their swarms blacked out the moon<\/a> during their annual migration of up to 1,000km, and they were a key food of alpine species like the mountain pygmy possum.<\/p>\n

But in the summer of 2017-2018, the species suffered a near-total collapse<\/a>, and they were listed as endangered.<\/p>\n

What do I do if I spot a marked bogong moth?<\/p>\n

In 2026, as they migrate up to 1,000km home, <\/a>scientists from Invertebrates Australia and Western Sydney University are hoping Aussies will notice the paint or sticker and register their sighting.<\/p>\n

It took this team of around 20 people the best part of 10 days to catch the moths inside the alpine caves of Mount Kosciuszko.<\/p>\n

\"Left:<\/p>\n

The moths are marked with either a white splotch of paint (seen left) or a small sticker (right). Source: Invertebrates Australia<\/p>\n

And now they\u2019re hoping the public will take five minutes to help them out by logging their sighting on either the iNaturalist website or on Bogong.org.<\/p>\n

Any sightings of the species are welcome, as they can help build our understanding of their preferred habitat and migration path.<\/p>\n

But they can be hard to distinguish from other species, and so the white marking certainly helps identify them.<\/p>\n

Massive gap in bogong moth knowledge<\/p>\n

It\u2019s suspected that the ongoing drought played a role in their decline, but other theories single out factors like insecticides used<\/a> in agricultural settings.<\/p>\n

Until scientists know what sort of environments they rely on, it\u2019s hard to understand how much this extreme weather event impacted them.<\/p>\n

They are known to live in diverse ecosystems, but can be blown off course, and sometimes end up in New Zealand.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"a\"<\/p>\n

The Invertebrates Australia team, including Prof Kate Umbers on the right, captured and marked almost 15,000 moths. Source: Invertebrates Australia<\/p>\n

Associate Professor Kate Umbers, the managing director of Invertebrates Australia, said the recovery has taken years, and so there are likely multiple factors impacting numbers.<\/p>\n

Umbers explained there is a \u201cmassive gap in knowledge\u201d about bogong behaviour that needs to be understood.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter the crash happened, we realised a big problem was that we didn\u2019t know what they were doing after they left the mountains,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Do you have a story tip? Email: newsroomau@yahoonews.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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