George and Mark tried mauling a moth (9)

I believe the answer is:

geometrid

'a moth' is the definition.
(I know that geometrid is a type of moth)

'george and mark tried mauling' is the wordplay.
'george' becomes 'geo'.
'and' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'mark' becomes 'm'.
'mauling' is an anagram indicator (I've seen 'mauled' mean this).
'tried' is an anagram of 'etrid'.
'geo'+'m'+'etrid'='GEOMETRID'

I've seen this clue in the Sydney Morning Herald.

Want a hint initially instead of a full solution? Install my app