Large Moth

[kellygirl]

I walked out the door of my apartment this morning and found this gorgeous moth hanging above the stairway. I couldn't resist taking a picture! Enjoy!

Anyone know the species?

-Kelly

 

[Immortal_sin]

it looks huge....how big IS it?!

 

[Code Monkey]

Anyone know the species?

It's belongs to the family Saturniidae and is a male, don't know the species without looking things up.

A super quick search pointed me at this page for more on them: http://www.uky.edu/Agriculture/Entomology/entfacts/misc/ef008.htm

 

[kellygirl]

It is pretty big, I'd say maybe a 4" wingspan or so.

He was still there when I came home but this time he had his wings open so I took another picture. Sorry the quality isn't great...

-Kelly

 

[Code Monkey]

Looks like a Polyphemus Moth (Antherae polyphemus) now that the wings are open. If you catch females of these types they can be quite interesting because they don't have very strict oviposition requirements and will lay their eggs on just about anything and the caterpillars aren't hard to raise either.

 

[Wade]

To add to what Chip said, the caterpillars feed on oak leaves and go through 2 generations a year. Adults do not have mouthparts and do not feed and live only a week or two. Captive reared females can be put in a wire cage and hung in a tree at night and males will come from miles around to mate with her! Usually, they will mate right through the mesh.

I once went through 3 or 4 generations of this species before I got tired of collecting oak leaves constantly!

Wade

 

[kellygirl]

Thanks for all the info! It's STILL in the same spot.

So do you guys still think this is a male?

-Kelly

 

[Code Monkey]

So do you guys still think this is a male?

Yeah, the feathery antennae are giveaway. Those are his women-radar devices

 

[Malkavian]

Hopefully the cocoon i have will pop out something beautiful like that in the next week or two....the other day when i was "hanging" it on the inside of a jar lid, it was kicking! its good to know that whatever is in it is at least still alive

CM If I postd a picture is it possible to ID the species just on the cocoon and where it was found? I'm pretty positive its a large moth of some kind (I'm thinking its a polyphemus since I know they live where it was collected) but other than that, no clue...shouldn't it be about ready to come out by april?