Subject: Cecropia Moths A-mating?
Geographic location of the bug: Fayetteville, Georgia
Date: 05/05/2018
Time: 07:53 PM EDT
Your letter to the bugman: Hi there! My mom and I spotted this fuzzy lady hanging out on our front doorway around noon on May 5, 2018. She stayed there all day long, and when I checked again a little after seven, I discovered she had company.
Thanks to your website, I think they’re Cecropia Moths? I’m just a little unsure because the male is so much smaller and darker than the female.
How you want your letter signed: Lauren C.
Dear Lauren,
Though they resemble Cecropia Moths, your mating pair are actually Promethea Moths, Callosamia promethea, which are pictured on BugGuide. According to BugGuide: “Females come to lights but males do not” though we suspect an exception is that a male will be attracted to a female who was attracted to a light. BugGuide also indicates an alternate name is Spicebush Silkmoth and states: “larvae feed on leaves of apple, ash, basswood, birch, cherry, lilac, maple, sassafras, sipcebush [sic], sweetgum, tulip-tree; also recorded on buttonbush, magnolia, and other trees adults do not feed.”
