Beautiful moth
Location: Vienna, Virginia
August 6, 2010 3:23 pm
Dear Bugman,
I saw this beautiful moth on a door at a local school. It appears to be either a female tulip tree silkmoth or a promethea silkmoth. As it is quite reddish, I think it is the former. It is early August, which fits the description.
Fleur
Tulip-Tree Silkmoth
Hi Fleur,
We are inclined to agree with you that this appears to be a female Tulip-Tree Silkmoth, Callosamia angulifera, based on images that are posted to BugGuide.
Tulip-Tree Silkmoth
¶ Posted 06 August 2010 § ‡ ° Beautiful Moth
Location: Sarasota, FL
August 3, 2010 8:43 pm
Saw this moth outside of my office one day, it was yellowish and fairly big. it looked like it had color under it’s wings so I nudged it (very lightly I promise) to see the pattern under the wing. I was not disappointed as it had two very large faux eyes and bright red, yellow and orange coloring. Just hoping for an ID. Thanks a lot guys. Love the site by the way, found it Stumbling one day and I’ve been addicted since.
Tim
Male Io Moth
Hi Tim,
Thanks for the compliment. Your moth is a male Io Moth. The female is slightly larger and has brown upper wings. The eyespots are very effective in dissuading predators like birds. When the bird nudges the moth and the eyespots are revealed, what was once thought correctly to be a toothsome meal is mistaken for a large threat. Interestingly, the Io Moth is one of the smaller North American Giant Silkmoths.
¶ Posted 03 August 2010 § ‡ ° Long tail Skipper, maybe?
Location: Atlanta, Georgia
July 25, 2010 11:55 am
My wife and I found this on our stairs last night. This thing is about 5 inches across and it didn’t seem to mind being photographed. The photo was taken at around 2:45am on July 25th 2010. It was still pretty warm out. Thanks!
D. Ruffin
Luna Moth
Dear D.,
Though the Long Tailed Skipper has extensions on the hind wings similar to your insect, your Luna Moth is a much larger insect. Additionally, Skippers do not fly at night, unlike the Luna Moth, arguably North America’s most distinctive looking moth.
Dear Daniel,
Thanks for the speedy response! We were amazed when we saw this insect and were anxious to know what it was. I’ve never head of the Luna Moth, but there was a full moon out last night; any correlation to that? Thanks again, you guys are great!
Damon
Hi Damon,
We are not certain if Luna Moth flights are in synchronicity with the moon, but we like the idea. Perhaps one of our readers knows of a study.
Moths breeding
Location: Dallas Fort Worth Texas
July 18, 2010 2:40 pm
These moths were breeding on a piece of wood on my driveway. Date was April 21, 2010. Dallas, Fort Worth area of Texas.
Sarah Goodrich
Mating Pink Striped Oakworm Moths
Hi Sarah,
Your moths are Oakworm Moths in the genus Anisota, most probably the Pink Striped Oakworm Moths, Anisota virginiensis, though there are other members in the genus that look quite similar.
¶ Posted 18 July 2010 § ‡ ° Tagged: bug love large yellow and brown moth
July 9, 2010
saw this on the sidewalk in downtown omaha. it was still alive although not interested in flying. i moved it off the sidewalk and when touched it would flip over. it also appears to have a hole in its head one side…maybe a parasite?
miles
omaha, ne
Imperial Moth
Dear Miles,
Your moth is a male Imperial Moth, Eacles imperialis, and it is a male moth based on the amount of purple/brown on the wings. The female is more yellow. Imperial Moths do not feed as adults, and they only live a few days, perhaps a week at most. Their sole purpose as adults is the perpetuation of the species, though they also provide food for many predators. Perhaps this moth was attacked by a bird and then abandoned.
¶ Posted 09 July 2010 § ‡ ° Luna moth top and underside
July 8, 2010
Found this moth today on a small cedar tree directly underneath a black walnut–between my back yard and a parking lot!
Amy
Philadelphia, PA
Luna Moth
Hi Amy,
Thanks so much for sending us your breathtakingly beautiful images of your Luna Moth.
Luna Moth
colorful, large moth?
July 5, 2010
We found this bug in Tennessee outside on our front porch. At first we thought it may be a butterfly, but looks more like a moth.
R Hallums
Clarksville, TN
Regal Moth
Dear R Hallums,
Your speculation that this is a moth is correct. It is a Regal Moth or Royal Walnut Moth, and it is the adult form of the Hickory Horned Devil, the largest North American caterpillar.
¶ Posted 05 July 2010 § ‡ ° Large moth. Cecropia?
July 2, 2010
I once found an alien looking being, took a picture, but lost it in a catastrophic PC failure a few years ago before I could identify it. Out of massive amounts of data that I’ve lost only those pictures and a few audio recordings really bothered me and I think about them every once in a while. Today I was finally fed up and decided to pour over the internet for as much time as I needed to and make as much of a fool of myself describing the weird creature on forums as I must until I find out what was it. I was ready! I was pumped!
Three minutes later it was all over… I immediately found your site, and found what I was looking for in a few more clicks of the mouse. You kind of destroyed my initial enthusiasm for a quest, but don’t get me wrong – the site is awesome and I was very grateful once the adrenalin wore off.
Now I still have a small problem. The being I remember looks a lot like a Cecropia Moth Caterpillar, and the moth itself (pictured on your site) looks a lot like the moths I see all the time. But they’re not quite the same! I actually have a few pictures of the moths I’m used to, but only when I searched through them trying to find a good one to post here I noticed there are differences. Hence the two images.
I would very much like to know if the moths on my pictures are indeed Cecropia moths or some variety thereof, and if the caterpillar I’ve seen is from the same species. Is it weird that I see the moths all the time for as long as I can remember and the caterpillar only once? Are my moths of different varieties?
Thank you very much!
Image 1: taken in May
Image 2: taken in August
Same location.
John
Europe, Serbia, 43.37N, 20.41E, ~400m
Giant Peacock Moth
Hi John,
Your letter has us quite intrigued. Your assumption that your moth resembles the Cecropia Moth is understandable, as they are both in the same family, Saturniidae, but the Cecropia Moth is a North American species. If you saw one in Serbia, it must have been introduced or it escaped from captivity. The moth in your photo is the Great Peacock Moth or Giant Peacock Moth, Saturnia pyri, the largest moth in Europe. You may read more about the Giant Peacock Moth on the Saturniidae of the Western Palaearctic website. Your second moth is a Sphinx Moth or Hawkmoth in the family Sphingidae, but we need to do additional research on the species.
¶ Posted 03 July 2010 § ‡ ° 
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