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VIDEO: Swarm of moths invades town in Australia

I can feel them on me.

A SWARM OF moths has invaded a town in Australia.

The insects covered the main street in Winton, central west Queensland yesterday.

Resident Frank Standfast posted a video to Facebook that showed the swarm pouring from the gutters.

Storyful News / YouTube

Standfast told the Brisbane Times:

There was moths everywhere, but it was really thick just out the front of the hardware, the gutters were full. It was pretty full on.

“We had a few for a few days but not to that extent.”

Queensland Museum’s senior curator of entomology (the scientific study of insects), Dr Chris Burwell, told the newspaper he couldn’t confirm the species of moth or the exact reason why they had gathered in such large numbers, but said it probably had something to do with rainfall and plant growth.

“It is a typical thing you will get happening in central Australia where during dry times you will see nothing at all and then you will see a quick response to any rainfall … and you get this sudden boom in numbers of insects.”

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Órla Ryan
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