South Australian Museum scientists are celebrating the rediscovery of the sun-moth (Synemon selene), which was thought to be extinct in SA, having last been seen in 1948.

Senior researcher Dr Mark Stevens says the discovery of an active colony feeding and breeding in the state’s mid-north showed it was “never too late” to support native wildlife.

“Populations expand when there’s favourable habitat and conditions,” he said.

“It’s a bit like encouraging native bees into your backyard, you’re just got to put out what they like and they will come.”

Dr Stevens said grassland and agricultural areas north of Adelaide, extending to the east of the Flinders Ranges, were often exposed to insecticides and pesticides leading to the demise of the sun-moth.

The mid-north SA colony was discovered on a property in Peterborough exempt from locust and mosquito spraying to protect a population of the pygmy blue-tongue lizard with native grasses and no cropping.

The research published in the journal Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia describes the comparison of adult males and females from the mid-north population with the original (type) specimen held in the museum and the parthenogenetic (female only) population in western Victoria.

This included painstaking analysis of tiny male genitalia.

“For a lot of insects, the male genitalia is the important thing,” Dr Stevens said.

“It’s the whole lock and key thing, it’s very hard to look at the female genitalia.”

They used genetic analysis to confirm the results.

The work was supported by a Lirabenda Endowment Fund from the Field Naturalists Society of SA.