Currently viewing the category: "Giant Silk Moths"
What's That Bug? does not endorse extermination

Male Tulip-Tree Silkmoth

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Subject:  Brown Moth
Geographic location of the bug:  Hide-A_Way Hills, Hocking Cty, OH 43107
Date: 06/18/2020
Time: 08:39 AM EDT
Your letter to the bugman:  Found this by our front door, June 16, 2020.  Could not find the exact same one online.  What is it?
How you want your letter signed:  Jan

Tulip Tree Silkmoth

Dear Jan,
This looks to us like a male Tulip Tree Silkmoth, Callosamia angulifera, and it is pictured on BugGuide.  It is one of the Giant Silkmoths in the family Saturniidae.  Giant Silkmoths only live a few days, long enough to mate.  They do not feed as adults.

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Oculea Silkmoth

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Subject:  Antheraea Oculea
Geographic location of the bug:  Edgewood, New Mexico
Date: 06/22/2020
Time: 01:14 PM EDT
Your letter to the bugman:  Oculea silk moth. Emerged under the English Oak in our back yard on June 21, 2020.
How you want your letter signed:  J. Bryan

Oculea Silkmoth

Dear J. Bryan,
Thanks so much for submitting your gorgeous image of an Oculea Silkmoth or Western Polyphemus Moth, Antheraea oculea.  According to BugGuide:  “Adults are also similar to A. polyphemus, but darker and with more markings around the eye spots. ”

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Luna Moth in Maryland

On · Category: Luna Moth - Rare Specimen · Add Comment

Subject:  Luna Moth
Geographic location of the bug:  Flintstone, MD
Date: 06/02/2020
Time: 12:01 PM EDT
Your letter to the bugman:  I don’t need this identified but thought I would share! Found this gem last night attached to my screen door. I was amazed by it’s beauty. After looking online I figured out it is a Luna Moth. Woke up this morning and he was on the wooden door frame of my screen door so I got some better pics of it. The pics I took last night didn’t turn out very good so I was excited when I saw he was still here!
How you want your letter signed:  Megan

Luna Moth

Thanks Megan,
We love posting images of Luna Moths.

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What's That Bug? does not endorse extermination

First Luna Moth Sighting of the Year

On · Category: Luna Moth - Rare Specimen · Add Comment

Subject:  Luna Moth
Geographic location of the bug:  Wakefield Quebec
Date: 05/27/2020
Time: 10:38 AM EDT
Your letter to the bugman:  This guy was a pleasant surprise today to my 5 year old son/ant and bug collector
How you want your letter signed:  Gene

Luna Moth

Dear Gene,
We are so excited that your submission is our first Luna Moth posting of the year, though one can only guess how many Luna Moth submissions arrived between April 21 when Daniel last checked his emails and now.  Canadian sightings are occur around June, and our earliest sightings, sometimes as early as January or February, are generally from Texas and Florida.

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What's That Bug? does not endorse extermination

Parasitized Cabbage Emperor Moth Caterpillars from South Africa

On · Category: Braconids and Chalcids, Giant Silk Moths Tagged With: · Add Comment

Subject:  Emperor moth caterpillar
Geographic location of the bug:  Plettenberg Bay. South Africa
Date: 01/02/2020
Time: 03:26 AM EDT
Your letter to the bugma:  We have noticed these beautiful caterpillars at the same time each year. This year quite a few of them have “eggs” attached to them. It looks like these caterpillars die. Could this be a parasite wasp?
How you want your letter signed:  Jenny

Cabbage Emperor Moth Caterpillars with parasitoid Wasp Pupae

Dear Jenny,
We believe we already responded to a comment you posted to another posting on our site.  Alas, these Cabbage Emperor Moth Caterpillars, Bunaea alcinoe, appear to have fallen victim to a parasitoid Wasp, probably a Braconid or Chalcid Wasp.  According to Siyabona Africa:  “The Bunaea alcinoe (common emperor) caterpillars mentioned above, had been discovered by a tiny specie of the large family of parasitoid Braconid wasps (Braconidae). The adult wasp had penetrated the live caterpillar(s) with her ovipositor and laid eggs inside the caterpillar. The eggs had hatched into larvae which fed within the caterpillar.  The larvae, on reaching full size, cut their way out of the caterpillar and formed tiny, white cocoons, within which they pupated, on the outside of the caterpillar. Within a few days the mature wasps cut their way out of the cocoons to repeat the cycle. The caterpillars, denuded of their nutrients and depending on their rate of leaf consumption, slowly shrivel and die.”

Hi
Many thanks for this detailed and interesting reply. Much appreciated.
Kind regards
Jenny

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Pallid Emperor Moth from South Africa

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Subject:  Giant silk moth
Geographic location of the bug:  Sabie, Mpumalanga, South Africa
Date: 01/03/2020
Time: 02:33 PM EDT
Your letter to the bugman:  Saw this moth at a take out drive through in a small town called Sabie in the the province Mpumalanga in South Africa. Eastern part of the country. Google image search did not yield much information
How you want your letter signed:  Shirley

Giant Silk Moth: Cirina forda

Dear Shirley,
This is indeed a Giant Silk Moth in the family Saturniidae, and we believe we have correctly identified it as Cirina forda thanks to images posted online on African Moths and on iNaturalist where it is called a Pallid Emperor Moth.

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What's That Bug? does not endorse extermination