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Please tell me
Dear sir,
please tell me about these moths… I am from Kerala India.. I found and photographed them from our area.. The yellow one is very large with transparent circles on the wings…15 cm on extended wings…I saw it flying in broad daylight Is there Day moths too? Please help me with their details such as scientific name, habitats etc. Regards
Ibrahim TMC, Kasargod ,Kerala, India

Hi Ibrahim,
Our favorite website for identifying exotic Saturnid Moths run by Kirby Wolfe is now a pay site, and we really cannot justify paying $40 to identify your moth. We did find an image that seems identical to your golden moth and it is identified as an Antheraea species. We then located a second website that supports that identification, and names it Aantheraea yamamai yamamai with the common name Japanese Oak Silkmoth. Your green moth is some species of Sphingidae, or Hawk Moth.

Update: (02/27/2008) Antheraea mylitta
Dear Experts from Whatsthatbug,
what a great webpage! I often enjoy the nice pictures and comments – it is such an explosive mixture of interesting details and beauty, congratulations! It is also a very nice and important medium for the evidentation of where the species occur… For the nice insert from 10.10.07 written by Ibrahim TMC, Kasargod, Kerala – I have another proposal; though the colour is really very much like that of A. yamamai from Japan or Russian Far East (specially in females, I am close to confuse the specimens too), what is quite surprising indeed – it should be an Antheraea mylitta female, with regard to the much bigger eyespots on the wings; a very fascinating species, similar to A. yamamai, but with the caterpillars spinning a much larger, splendid egg-shaped cocoon hanging on a strong peduncle from a twig. (Some subspecies are cultivated for silk in the region.) On the other hand, the information about A. yamamai occuring in India (as introduced species, like in Slovenia where I come from, since 1865) can be found in several sources of Lepidopterological literature – and I am wondering very much how it should be able to survive in a tropical climate, as coming originally from a quite winter-cold region (northern Japan) – except, maybe, in high mountains… (They overwinter as eggs and can only have one generation per year – needing therefore a colder climate.) Do You have any additional information about the Indian A. yamamai population and where they occur? (Attached is a photo of A. yamamai from Slovenia, making love on the window, the female is on the right.) Many Thanks in advance and nicest wishes to You and to Ibrahim, from Berlin,
Bostjan Dvorak

Correction March 24, 2010
Whilst researching a related moth from India, which we believe is the true Antheraea mylitta, we stumbled upon an image of Antheraea paphia on the World’s Greatest Saturniidae website that matches this older posting.  We found a comparable image on Flickr that supports the corrected identification.

Bill Oehlke’s corrected correction, a return to the original speculation
March 24, 2010
Daniel,
Because of the size of the hyaline areas of the eyespots, I believe both moths are Antheraea mylitta.
Bill Oehlke

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