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Giant Silk MothsNew Mexico Moths
September 15, 2009
Here are pictures of 2 moths that visited us the same night in August, up in the northern New Mexico mountains. I’ve been able to read some about them. Their size is noteable!
J. Ivy
Ute Park, New Mexico
Glover's Silk Moth
New Mexico Moths 2
I’m sorry, I doubled-up on one photo and left out the second moth.
J.Ivy
New Mexico mountains
Glover's Silk Moth
Hi J,
We are very happy you sent a second email with the other moth. Several of your photos of the Glover’s Silk Moth, Hyalophora comumbia gloveri, a subspecies of the Columbia Silk Moth, were incorrectly labeled Polyphemus Moth. Your second moth, though it looks like a Polyphemus Moth, is more likely the much rarer Oculea Moth, Antheraea oculea, which has a limited range in the mountains of Arizona and New Mexico, and possibly Texas. According to the World’s Largest Saturniidae Site: “Oculea is best distinguished from polyphemus by the orange ring around each eyespot and extensive blue and black scaling on all wings. Polyphemus has a yellow ring around each eyespot and black scaling is much less pronounced.”
Oculea Moth
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