Cecropia Moth
Location: Los Gatos, California
June 20, 2011 6:44 pm
Hi there,
I saw this beautiful moth in Los Gatos, California yesterday. After doing a little bit of research trying to identify the type of moth that I saw, I kept coming across information that the cecropia moth isn’t found in California. I was wondering what you thought of this or if I am correct in identifying this moth.
Signature: Gretchen

Ceanothus Silkmoth

Dear Gretchen,
Unlike the Cecropia Moth, the closely related Ceanothus Silkmoth, Hyalophora euryalus, is indigenous to Southern California.

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Moth in Brazil
Location: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
June 13, 2011 11:05 am
Hi bugman.
Found a strange looking moth, haven´t figured out which species it might be. Can you help me out?
Signature: Mary Drumond

Mating Royal Moths

Dear Mary,
We believe we have correctly identified your mating Royal Moths as a pair of Citheronia laocoon, but we would like to copy Bill Oehlke on our response to get his opinion.  He may also request permission to use your excellent photo on his website.  The smaller individual in your photo is the male, and we do not know if this size discrepancy is normal, or if this is just an abnormally small male.  The male has a wider yellow band on the upper wings than the female.  Here are some photos of mounted specimens of Citheronia laocoon on the Lepidoptera Barcode of Life website.

Bill Oehlke confirms identification
Daniel,
Thanks for thinking of me. Here is email I just sent to Mary.
Hi Mary,
Yes, it is Citheronia laocoon.
Males are typically smaller than females, but it would appear that you probably have encountered a smaller than average male pairing with a larger than average female.
Thanks for permission to post photo.
I am very interested in seeing and posting images of Saturniidae and Sphingidae with dates and locations. I should be able to help with identifications of any moths from those two families.
Bill Oehlke

Dear Mr. Marlos and Mr. Oehlke,
Can you tell me if this month is native to Brazil (rio de janeiro) as its the first time i see anything like it around here.
Thank you so much for you reply, and yes, you may use the picture.
Thank you once again

Hi Mary,
I realized that neither Bill Oehlke nor I confirmed that this is a native species for you.

Well, i googled it (ha ha)
Apparently its native to south america, but i didnt get specifics on my state, rio de janeiro, which is on the coast. Like i said previously, i had never seen anything like it befor. Our moths tend to be small, dull and to be quite honest, ugly.
Big beautiful moths like these are a real treat.
My friend thought they were from argentin and might be escaping volcanic ash from the chilean volcano this week.
Seems a bit far.
Thank you for all your time and attention.
Mary

Moth Identity
Hi there
I found this moth on a mountain road in Palo Alto in the mountains above Boquete in Panama in April 2011.
I believe the genus may be Rothschildia but I really don’t know.
I would be grateful if you could possibly advise as to the full species name and any common names in English or otherwise for this beautiful creature.
Thanking you in anticipation
Regards
Seamus O’Malley

Rothschildia orizaba

Hi Seamus,
This is one of the Giant Silkmoths in the genus Rothschildia, and our research indicates there are four species or subspecies in Panama.  In our opinion, this most closely resembles Rothschildia orizaba which is pictured on the Moth Photographers Group website.

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