When I mention "bugs", I usually mean the microscopic kind. However, last week and this weekend have put me on a macroscopic "bug" kick.
We were out camping this weekend in central Iowa. My kids found this beast by the bathroom:
For size comparison, that's my cell phone at the top of the pic:
Apparently, it's a Cecropia silkmoth, the largest moth in N. America (range here). It was nice enough to sit around and pose for a few pictures before it flew off:
According to this site (describing the rearing of a Cecropia moth), it's probably a male--those antennae look pretty giant to me.
This inspired us to do spend some more time with lepidopterans this weekend; more on them tomorrow.
Comments
It's beautiful! The only one I've ever seen in the wild was rather banged up after a storm.
Posted by: Dale | June 26, 2006 11:44 AM
Ohhhhh...that's a big fella. And the colouration is very neat. Once saw a Luna moth at the cottege one night. Heard it first to be more accurate, as it made a huge clunk noise when it landed on the deck. Scarred the bezeesus out of the wife. I think they are moth relatives.
Posted by: Dave S. | June 26, 2006 12:36 PM
Nice. And, judging from the other saturniid moths I've seen, you're right about it being a male.
Sadly, I think their flight season is over here in North Carolina: I only saw one cecropia, in early spring, long before most moths seemed to be out. One of the few good things about a crappy 3rd-shift gas station job is that the canopy lights turn the parking lot into an insect menagerie at night. A couple of mated female moths have left me with some really impressive caterpillars--some thumb-sized luna moth caterpillars are getting close to pupation on a sweetgum twig in a bottle of water on my TV stand, and a brood of polyphemus larva have just hatched in one of those disposable plastic kitchen containers.
I really want to find a mated female cecropia, though: as pretty as an adult luna or polyphemus is, cecropias are much more impressive.
Posted by: vance | June 26, 2006 1:22 PM
These moths used to be much more abundant, but they are unfortunately the victim of a poorly-planned biological control program. A parasitic tachinid fly that was supposed to attack Gypsy moth went for our native Saturniids instead. Very, very sad.
Posted by: Alex | June 26, 2006 4:21 PM
Definitely a male, and a really handsome specimen! I wish mine had been as big and bright.
Posted by: Michael | June 26, 2006 5:24 PM
Alex is correct -- I posted about the decline of silkmoths due to tachinid flies last summer.
Posted by: Nuthatch | June 27, 2006 8:53 AM
Beautiful. We live among sweetgums, so I see luna moths and their caterpillars fairly often during the summer, but other silkmoths are a rare treat.
The lunas are huge too. The first time I saw one blundering around a street light, I thought it was an albino bat. The caterpillars must go walkabout when they are ready to pupate, because I have found cocoons in empty flowerpots and stuck under the eaves of our house.
Posted by: Nick | June 27, 2006 10:32 AM
Hmmm, I thought that the Black Witch - Ascalapha odorata was our largest moth? Chip-
Posted by: chip hedgcock | June 30, 2006 1:56 PM
I'm admittedly no entomologist, though I found that characterization on several sites describing the moth.
Posted by: Tara C. Smith | June 30, 2006 2:15 PM
i have mottephobia a very big fear of moths i get so freaked out about them they r beautiful but they scare me a large one flew in my car one day the way i acted people would have thought i was having a fit i was so scared thank god it flew out
Posted by: char | March 2, 2007 3:39 PM