Unknown moth
Location: Eastern Pennsylvania
July 12, 2011 2:56 pm
My father found this moth out back while he was cleaning up after the moth and took a few pictures on his camera. When I woke up, he went to get me and told me all about it and I got some myself. It’s a large brown moth with a huge backside. I’m assuming it was pregnant. It’s about mid July so it’s summer and it’s almost 4 PM. I’m not sure when he spotted it.
Signature: Dana
Hi Dana,
This beautiful gal is a female Polyphemus Moth, and we are quite happy that you have provided us a view of the wings closed as well as opened. You can tell she is a female by her full body and smaller antennae. The antennae of the male are bushier or more feathered, and he uses them to sense the female’s pheromones. We are post dating this submission to go live over the weekend while we are out of the office.
We found two of those moths in our front yard. One male one female. When we found them we believe that they were mating before we approached them. Then the male fluttered away. After that we took the female to a bush where it should be safe until it wants to leave. While I was carrying her to the bush she was vibrating her wings and pulling them inward. She felt fuzzy and kind of soft. Do you think she was vibrating because she was scared, and is it normal to find them on the ground with each other?