Ms Nicole Mcmullen1

1The University of Queensland, Saint Lucia, Brisbane, Australia

Biography:

Nicole is currently a HDR student at the University of Queensland under the supervision of Associate Professor Lyn Cook and Emeritus Professor Myron Zalucki. Her research is titled ‘The taxonomy and systematics of the Australian processionary caterpillar, Ochrogaster lunifer’.

Abstract:

The bag shelter moth is a relatively ubiquitous and abundant Australian native species. Many Australians are quite familiar with this gregarious species because of their processioning behaviour to find pupation sites or to forage on a host plant. There are at least two distinct species currently recognised under the name Ochrogaster lunifer Herrich-Schäffer 1855, and likely to be many more given the diversity in nest types and hosts used. Here, we investigate the genitalia of male moths from across Australia that belong to different genetic groups to try to determine if there are distinguishing characteristics that are congruent with there being distinct species.