It was the second day of another heatwave. It was 6pm and still 32 degrees. I was out in my suburban backyard, under the shade of a Black Wattle tree. Heat radiated off the bricks.  I noticed something strange poking out of the ground near the wattle tree. Something rusty orange in colour. Ah! I know what these are! Bardi Grub pupal cases! That means that an enormous Rain Moth has recently emerged from spending years underground.

Then I saw it. Motionless and so well camouflaged against the trunk of the wattle tree - the Rain Moth. It was hard to believe how enormous it was. A quick guess was that it was easily the length of my hand, which is 19 cm. Although mainly shades of browns, greys and black in intriguing patterns, there was this amazing dark blue circle and 2 brown dots, like eyes, on its back near where its head would be. Is this just a decorative pattern, or a trick to make predators think it’s the real head? If so, why have the fake eyes so close to its real head? Often fake eyes or heads are located on a body part the animal can afford to lose.

Another question sprang to mind…it’s called the Rain Moth for a reason. They often emerge after the first rains of Autumn. Why did it choose to become a moth now, in the middle of summer, in a heatwave?

I wrote an entry about the Rain Moth and the pupal case in my nature journal. I wrote down the story, my observations, my questions and sketched photos of the moth and the pupal case. I did some research too, and found out that some Rain Moths ‘jump the gun’ and emerge a day or so before rain. I looked at the weather forecast and low and behold - it was going to rain for the next 5 days, starting from tomorrow. But tomorrow was a long time away, and it was a good 24 hours before rain was forecast to start. How did the Rain Moth know there was going to be rain in 24 hours?! What senses did it have that I sure don’t, that it could know this 24 hours in advance, from underground?

I read later that Rain Moths only live for 1 day. They spend years as larvae, burrowing down in the ground and eating roots. Then they emerge as this spectacular moth and live for just one day - just another time to hopefully find a mate, and for the female to lay thousands of fertilised eggs….for the cycle of life to begin again. Wow. I feel lucky to have met that Rain Moth. I hope it found a mate.

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