Butterfly
Sorry about the bad photo, but I couldn’t find this butterfly on your site. We’re in Northeast Tennessee.
The Brents
Hi Brents,
This is one of the Saturnid Moths. We are reluctant to give an exact species based on the photo.
OK, I reviewed your moth photos (silly me thought he was a butterfly since he had four wings; have since educated myself on the difference) and determined he is definitely a Tulip Tree Silk Moth as in your photo. Makes sense since we have a ton of yellow poplars. Thanks once again for your most educational and useful site.
Tim
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Posted 14 May 2006
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green moth?
My children and I Iove to look at your site. Thank you for putting it together for the benefit of all! We found a lovely green caterpillar a couple of weeks ago and brought it inside to watch for the day. Before we knew what was happening, it had turned into a Chrysalis using some beet greens I had placed in the container. Well, two weeks later, we found "Rosemary" the caterpillar had turned into "Rosemary" the moth! We gently moved her back out of doors and took this picture. Can you give us any more information about "Rosemary?"
Many thanks.
Tipps Family
Houston, Texas
Dear Tipps,
We have been getting numerous requests for Luna Moth identifications and have been running images constantly on our homepage for over a month.
Unidentified Moth?
Hi there,
I stumbled across your interesting site while trying to identify this moth. Please could you try to shed some light on it? Thanks. I have also attached a photo of a luna moth that paid me a visit last week.
Regards,
Alan Hearnshaw
Hi Alan,
What a nice photo of Rosy Maple Moths, and we always like getting wonderful Luna Moth images. Your screen gets enviable traffic.
Thanks. I had researched quite a bit, but couldn’t find it, then I did and also found that they’re pretty common and entimologists get fed up of identifying them. Sorry.
Hi Alan, We are not entomologists and are not fed up identifying them. We are thrilled to post your fine images. Thanks for your contribution.
Moth
We just found this Luna moth today 5/2 in Knoxville, TN and wasn’t sure what it was until now.
Reba
Hi Reba,
We never tire of receiving gorgeous photos or this gorgeous species.
Ok, just curious, it this a rare bug (it flew away already)
we live in the high desert in San Diego County
Joseph Rauh
Ranchita, CA
Hi Joseph,
The Ceanothus Silk Moth, Hyalophora euryalus, is not really rare, but few people are lucky enough to see the spectacular Saturnid Moth. They fly in the spring, are sometimes attracted to lights, and do not feed as adults. They live and fly solely to mate.
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Posted 01 May 2006
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Larry the Luna Moth
Hi folks at whatsthatbug! We wanted to show you our friend Larry, who finally emerged from his crysalis yesterday. We bought the crysalis at Butterfly World in South Florida. After it emerged we thought Larry was lonesome and needed to mate for his short life as a Luna Moth. We took him back to Butterfly World today to release him.
Alex and Lori Bale
Hi Alex and Lori,
Thank you for your wonderful story. We are sure you made Larry’s life short and sweet.
Luna Moth
My 4-year-old son and I found this Luna Moth outside our window this morning. I thought you might appreciate seeing it.it really is gorgeous!
Barbara
Boyds, MD
Hi Barbara,
We know it is spring when the Luna Moth photos begin to arrive, just like we know summer is approaching with the Dobsonflies, and fall with the Hickory Horned Devils.
Mountain Moths
Hi – We live in the mountains of East Tennessee and have 4 girls who are bug crazy! We snapped a couple of pictures of some of the colorful moths that we find outside our door almost daily. I never realized how beautiful moths could be until we moved here. We really enjoy seeing who has come to visit and thought we’d pass our pictures along to you. If you could tell us what types of moths these are we would love to know. We get a ton of the pink & yellow fellows but this was the first time we had seen one of the green moths. We think it looks just like the moth in the Lunesta commercial! lol!All the best,
Libby Edwardson (and Grace, Hattie, Mabel & Essie)
Dear Libby, Grace, Hattie, Mabel & Essie
Both of your moths are Saturnid or Giant Silk Moths. The pink moth is a Rosy Maple Moth, Dryocampa rubicunda. The Green Moth is a Luna Moth, Actias luna. We suspect it was chosen for the Lunesta mascot because of its name which means Moon Moth. Perhaps, the name Lunesta was coined after selecting the moth as the mascot. Only the advertisers know for sure.
Thanks so much for the reply and for giving us names to put with our moths. We think your site is great and we will definitely be bookmarking it for future reference! I thought that Lunesta moth looked just like our guy. I said to my husband last night “That’s our moth!” when the commercial came on! lol! Pretty neat. All the best,
Libby & co.
Polyphemus Moth
Hello,
We love your site! Last year we discovered you when looking for a bug that bit my daughter down in Florida – it was a giant water bug. This time (in April) my daughter found a moth – I think it’s Polyphemus Moth. It is huge, at least 5" or 5.5" wingspan. The "eyes" on the wings are not holes, but clear circles (they reflect light). I think I have some better pictures, and I’d love to share them with you. You can use them. In one of them it sits on my daughter’s wrist, in the other, in a big coffee tin. I forgot to say: we are in Maryland, withing the Washington, D.C.Beltway.
Thanks!
Marina and daughter Lena (8)
Hi Marina,
Thank you for the photo and wonderful letter.
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Posted 21 April 2006
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luna moth
Hi,
I just took this snapshot two days ago in Georgia.
Caesar
Hi Caesar,
You are too modest. Your photo is very beautiful and we are proud to display it.
Cocoon in Maryland
Please see attached photos! I would like to find out what’s inside the cocoon.
Thanks,
Jeff
Hi Jeff,
We believe this is a Luna Moth Cocoon, but it might be a Polyphemus Moth Cocoon. Both are Giant Silk Moths and form cocoon around leaves that dry and drop to the ground where they remain in the leaf litter until they hatch.
South African Luna Moth
Hi:
We just came back from a trip to South Africa where we found this large luna moth on the wall of our lodge. It looks slightly different from its American cousins, but there is a family resemblence.
Diane & Mark
Hi Diane and Mark,
Your moth is surely Luna-like. This tailed Saturnid Moth is probably in a different genus than the Luna, but it is definitely in the same family. We might eventually have a species name.
Hi, I noticed the South African Luna Moth on your website and thought you would like to know it is Argema mimosae – commonly called either Luna Moth or Moon Moth. Kind regards
Aaron in London
Update: (03/15/2008) Moth identification
What’s That Bug: Giant Silk Moths The top picture on this page, “South African Luna(like) Moth,” dated 04/08/06, is of Argema mittrei, also known as the Comet moth or Madagascan Moon Moth. I came across a picture of it while searching for identification of another moth just prior to accessing your site. What a coincidence. I generally would not write this long after an entry was posted, but I found no other reference to this beautiful creature on whatsthatbug.com .
Michelle Gill
Hi Michelle,
We believe the moth in question looks more like Argema mimosae, and since Argema mittrei is found in Madagascar, and the moth in question was in South Africa, we believe the identification that Aaron in London provided long ago is the correct one. Thanks for bringing this to our attention and we have now provided links from our entry.
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