Picture Wing Moth

Description:

Thyrididae; Siculodinae; Microbelia canidentalis Swinhoe, 1906. This is a very small moth which, according to Wikipedia and Philippine Lepidoptera, is placed in the Thrydidae (Small mainly dayflying moths). Wiki mentions that there are more than 1000 spp. so I felt lucky when I saw some pictures in inaturalist which helped me with the identification of this one. The Thrydidae are known colloquially as Tropical Leaf Moths or Picture Wing Moths.

Habitat:

This moth was spotted on the wall of our back terrace. It must have come in from the backyard where there is an extensive variety of tropical foliage.

Notes:

According to https://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/taxo..., "The moths perch in a distinctive position, with the body raised, mid legs not touching the substrate, and the wings held outspread." This is exactly the position adopted by the moth in my photos, although I was not able to get a good perspective to show it. In https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/199436-... there are better pictures of this moth in its resting posture.