Moth Of The Week

Moth of the Week

African Death’s-Head Hawkmoth

Acherontia atropos

The African death's-head hawkmoth is part of the family Sphingidae and is the most widely recognized of the three species of Death’s-Head Hawkmoth. The species was described in 1758 by Carl Linnaeus. Its common name comes from the skull shape on the back of its thorax. It’s binomial name comes from the river Acheron in Greece, which was believed to lead to the Underworld, and the Greek goddess Atropos respectively.

Description The forewings are black/brown with mottled shades of brown while the hindwings are buff orange with two black/brown stripes that curve with the edge of the hindwing. The head and thorax are the same black/brown color as the forewings interrupted by the brown skull on the back of the thorax. The abdomen is the same buff color as the hindwings with similar stripes of the same color. There is also a single stripe down the center of the abdomen called the “dorsal stripe.”

Average Wingspan: 13 cm (5 in)

Females are large than males with a rounded abdomen tip and larger, thicker antennae

Males have a pointed abdomen tip

Diet and Habitat Larva of this species mainly eat the leaves of potato plants which have alkaloids. The larva accumulate these toxins to become unpalatable to predators. Adults eat the nectar of flowers and stolen honey from the beehives of the Western Honey Bee. They are able to mimic the scent of bees and steal the honey undetected. They use their proboscis, a tube used to drink nectar and honey, to break the honey comb.

Their ranges stretches from the Middle East, as far south as the southern tip of Africa, as far north as southern Great Britain, as far east as India and western Saudi Arabia, and as far west as the Canary Islands and Azores. It is known to move into western Eurasia, but a majority do not survive the winter.

Mating This moth has multiple generations per year. In Africa, the broods are continuous. In the northern range, the larva overwinter in the pupal stage. Eggs are laid singly on the underside of species in mainly Solanaceae but also Physalis, Verbenaceae, Cannabaceae, Oleaceae, Pedaliaceae and others.

Predators This moth can emit a special squeak noise by sucking in air to vibrate a flap in its mouth and throat. The purpose of this squeak is unclear, but the two hypotheses are it is to scare away predators or to mimic the sound of a queen bee makes for the workers to stop moving to easier raid beehives for honey. They are also immune to bee venom and can mimic the scent of bees.

Fun Fact This moth has appeared many times in pop culture as symbols of death and evil:

It appeared in The Hireling Shepherd, Bram Stoker's Dracula, Un Chien Andalou, the promotional marquee posters for The Silence of the Lambs, in the music video to Massive Attack's single, "Butterfly Caught,” and on the American edition's cover of José Saramago's novel Death with Interruptions.

It is mentioned in Susan Hill's Gothic horror novel I'm the King of the Castle and John Keats’s "Ode to Melancholy.”

It is referred to in The Mothman Prophecies.

Finally, the moth is used as a calling card by the serial killer Buffalo Bill. However, in the movie script they are referred to under a different species of death’s-head hawkmoths.

(Source: Wikipedia, Simple English Wikipedia)

Moth of the Week

Crimson-Speckled Moth

Utetheisa pulchella

The crimson-speckled moth is a part of the family Erebidae. This species was first described in 1758 by Carl Linnaeus. It is also called the crimson-speckled flunkey and crimson-speckled footman.

Description The forewings are white or cream with red spots broken up by smaller black spots. Black dots also line the lower edge of the forewing called the outer margin. The pattern of spots may vary and the red splotches can merge into lines across the wings. The hindwings are much blander, they are all white except for a waved black/dark brown edge on the bottom of the hindwing, also called the outer margin, and a mark of the same color in the middle of the hindwing.

The head and back of the thorax is spotted buff yellow and black while the abdomen is only white or cream to match the wings. The moth’s legs are white and its antennae are dark brown/black and filiform.

These colors warn predators that this species is toxic.

Wingspan Range: 29 – 42 mm (≈1.14 - 1.7 in)

Diet and Habitat The caterpillars eat forget-me-nots, starflower, ribwort plantain, and plants from the genuses Echium, Solanum, and Anchusa. In their Afrotropical range they feed on Northern bluebell and plants in the genuses Lithospermum, Heliotropium, Trichodesma and Gossypium.

These plants contain alkaloids which makes the caterpillars and adult moths toxic to predators.

This species has a large range and are native to the Afrotropics, North Africa, the Near East, and Central Asia. This species also migrates to the United Kingdom, though its patterns are defined as “sporadic.”

These moths inhabit dry open places, meadows, shrublands, grasslands, and parks.

Mating This species has multiple generations a year: the broods are “continuous” in the tropics while elsewhere they have 3 per year.

Predators These moths fly both during the day and night. They have no camouflage but instead their colors advertise to predators that they are unpalatable. The plants they eat as caterpillars contain alkaloids which make them toxic to birds and other animals.

Fun Fact The crimson-speckled moth has 5 subspecies: Utetheisa pulchella antennata, Utetheisa pulchella completa, Utetheisa pulchella dilutior, Utetheisa pulchella kallima, and Utetheisa pulchella pulchella.

(Source: Wikipedia, Butterfly Conservation)

Moth of the Week

Drinker

Euthrix potatoria

The drinker moth is of the family Lasiocampidae. It was described and named in 1758 by Carl Linneaus. Linneaus chose the species name potatoria as it means ‘drinker-like.’ Dutch entomologist Johannes Goedaert had previously called the moth dronckaerdt, meaning ‘drunkard,’ “because it is very much inclined to drinking” or because this moth repeatedly puts its head into water. The common name ‘drinker’ comes from the same reason.

Description This moth is distinguishable from other eggar moths by a diagonal line crossing the forewing and two white spots also on the forewing. Males are usually reddish or orangish-brown with yellow patches. Males in East Anglia are often yellowish. Females can be yellow, a pale buff, whitish, or a darker reddish-brown than the males. Male and females also differ in size and antennae shape: females are slight larger than males, and males have fluffier antennae.

Wingspan Range of Fully Grown Drinker: 45–65 mm (≈1.77 - 2.56 in)

Diet and Habitat The caterpillars of this species feed on grasses and reeds in genuses such as Alopecurus, Deschampsia, Dactylis, Elytrigia, Carex, Luzula, and other Gramineae. A few examples are Cat grass (Dactylis glomeratus), Common Reed (Phragmites australis), Reed Canary-grass (Phalaris arundinacea), and Wood Small-reed (Calamagrostis epigejos).

In the spring, they feed mainly at night and can be found resting on low vegetation during the day. The larva also supposedly drink morning dew because it had been observed to repeatedly put its head in water.

This moth can be found in Europe. It is common throughout England and Ireland but tends to favor western Scotland over eastern Scotland. It prefers habitats of marshy places such as fens, riversides, tall and damp grassland, marshes, damp open woodland, scrub, and ditches. However this species does sometimes live in drier habitats such as grassy terrain and urban gardens.

Mating Adults can been seen between July and August and presumably mate during this time. There is only one generation per year. Eggs are laid mainly on the stems of grasses or reeds in small clusters.

Predators Adult moths fly at night and are presumably preyed on by nocturnal predators such as bats.

Fun Fact Both sexes of the drinker moth are attracted to light, but males are especially susceptible.

(Source: Wikipedia, Butterfly Conservation)

Moth of the Week

Peppered Moth

Biston betularia

The peppered moth is a part of the family geometridae. It was first described in 1758 by Charles Linnaeus. This moth gains its name from its speckled coloration, which has been studied as an example of natural selection and population evolution.

Description This species has a short body with narrow forewings. The body and wings are the same white base peppered with black dots and irregular black lines. This speckled pattern may vary with some moths having very few spots and others having so many that they look as if they are black with white spots as opposed to white with black. In rare cases, the black on the wings and body is replaced with gray or brown and in even rarer cases the spots are a combination of brown and black/gray. These spots help the moth camouflage against lichen on trees.

The evolution of this moth had been studied extensively during the last two hundred years, which created the term “industrial melanism.” During the Industrial Revolution, air pollution killed off lichen and covered trees in soot. This caused moths with a black spots on white base (typica) coloration to lose their camouflage and die off due to predators. This caused a spike in population for moths with a darker coloration (carbonaria) because they had the camouflage advantage. Once environmental conditions improved, the lighter colored moths once again became the dominant coloration.

The male’s antennae are bipectinate, meaning it has two rows of rami going down either side of a singular flagellum.

Wingspan Range: 45 - 62 mm (≈1.77 - 2.44 in)

Diet and Habitat The caterpillar of this moth eats many trees, shrubs, and small plants such as Blackthorn (Prunus spinosa), Hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna), Downy (Betula pubescens) and Silver Birch (Betula pendula), limes, sallows, poplars, oaks, Sweet Chestnut (Castanae sativa), Beech (Fagus sylvatica), Bramble (Rubus fruiticosus), Broom (Cytisus scoparius), Black Currant (Ribes nigrum) and Hop (Humulus lupulus).

They have a wide range, being found in China (Heilongjiang, Jilin, Inner Mongolia, Beijing, Hebei, Shanxi, Shandong, Henan, Shaanxi, Ningxia, Gansu, Qinghai, Xinjiang, Fujian, Sichuan, Yunnan, Tibet), Russia, Mongolia, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, Nepal, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Europe and North America. They prefer habitats of woodland, scrub, hedgerows, parks and gardens.

Mating Depending on its location, this moth can have one or two generations per year. In Great Britain and Ireland, the peppered moth has one generation per year, whilst in south-eastern North America it has two generations per year. They emerge from the pupea in late May to August.

The females attract males with pheromones, which are carried by the wind. Males follow the concentration gradient to find the female. The male guards the female from other males until she lays the eggs. The female lays about 2,000 pale-green ovoid eggs about 1 mm in length into crevices in bark with her ovipositor.

Predators This species is a night-flying moth, making the vulnerable to bats. The males in particular fly every night to search for a female while females fly only the first night.

To protect themselves from birds during the day, this species rests on lichen covered trees to camouflage themselves.

The day time resting positions of this moth have been recorded and studied. This study shows that the peppered moth prefers resting spots that are covered such as below where the trunk and a branch meet, the underside of branches, and leafy twigs.

Additionally, the study found peppered moths with a lighter coloration (typica) blend in better against crustose lichens rather than foliose lichens because birds can see ultraviolet light. The peppered moth reflects UV light while crustose lichens don’t, making them easier to pick out.

Fun Fact The caterpillars of the peppered moth resemble things in both color and size. An experiment published in 2019 done on the caterpillars of the peppered moth showed that the larva (even when blindfolded) could sense the color of the tree they live on and change their body color to match and/or would move to a different twig that was closest in color to their own body.

(Source: Wikipedia, Butterfly Conservation, Max Planck Institute)

Moth of the Week

Chimney Sweeper

Odezia atrata

The chimney sweeper is a part of the family Geometridae. It belongs to a monotypic genus, meaning it’s the only moth species in the genus Odezia, which was created in 1840 by Jean Baptiste Boisduval. It was first described in 1758 by Carl Linnaeus.

Description This moth is mostly black with white on the tips of the forewing (called the “apex”) and on the fringe of the forewing.

There have been a few variations in color:

- Odezia atrata pyrenaica, which is found in Pyrenees and central Italy, the wings are “dusted” in a brownish yellow with a stronger color on the forewing.

- Ab. Odezia atrata nigerrima, described by Paul Thierry-Mieg, was a female with no white apex or fringe.

- This moth’s wings may become brown from wear over time.

Wingspan Range: 23–27 mm (≈0.91 - 1.06 in)

Forewing Range: 12–15 mm (≈0.47 - 0.59 in)

Diet and Habitat The caterpillars of this species mainly eats the flowers and seeds of pignut (Conopodium majus).

This moth is distributed in the Palearctic region. In the west, it’s range reaches the Iberian Peninsula through western and central Europe and the British Isles. In the east, they can be found in Sakhalin and the Amur-Ussuri region. I’m the north, this moth reaches central Fennoscandia. Finally, in the south they are found in Italy to the Balkans.

These moths were once very common in Austria, but now the species is a rare occurrence.

They inhabit ditch edges, meadows, bogs, moors, lake sides, chalk downland, limestone grassland, woodland edges and hedgerows in southern Britain

Mating In Belgium and the Netherlands this moth can be seen flying from June to August. It presumably Nate’s during this timeframe.

Predators This moth flies during the day, especially in sunshine. They are presumably preyed on by birds and other daytime predators.

Fun Fact The chimney sweeper can be confused for the Small Blue butterfly (Cupido minimus), which also lives in the Palearctic region, as its wings may become brown from wear.

(Source: Wikipedia, Butterfly Conservation)

Moth of the Week

Spanish Moon Moth

Graellsia isabellae

The Spanish moon moth was first described in 1849 by Mariano de la Paz Graells y de la Agüera as Actias isabellae. However it was moved to the genus Graellsia, which was created in 1896 by Augustus Radcliffe Grote. It is part of the moth family Saturniidae and often associated with other “moon moths” under Actias although this species split off years ago. It is the only species in Graellsia and has no subspecies, making it a monotypic genus.

Description This moth has green wings with reddish-brown lines and yellow-green hindwing tails. These lines border all four wings and trace over the moth’s veins. The lower edges of both the hindwings and forewings (called the outer margins) are lined with black and the same yellow-green as the tails. This yellow-green is also seen on the forewings close by the moth’s head and on the hindwings in a gradient. Each wing has a magenta, orange, white, and black eyespot in between its veins with the hindwing spots being larger.

The body is yellow-green as well with reddish brown patterning. The antennae can be dark or orangish-brown.

The males have longer tails and bushier antennae while females have stubby tails and larger bodies.

Wingspan Range: 6.35 – 10.16 cm (2.5 - 4 in)

Diet and Habitat The caterpillar of this species eats pine needles, specifically from the Pinus nigra (Austrian Pine) and Pinus sylvestris (Scots Pine), which are native to its habitat. Interestingly, this species doesn’t easlily adapt to eating non-native pine species even if they are from the same genus.

This species is native to Spain and France but is also found in Switzerland. They live in the Alps and the Pyrenees mountains, which are considered a “refugee location.” Due to the cool, dry, and unchanging climate the Spanish moon moth has been able to remain unchanged for thousands of years. It is also a protected species.

Mating Adult moths hatch at the end of April to early May. The females lays 100 to 159 eggs, using pines as host plants. The eggs hatch after 1 to 1.5 weeks. It is important to note that adult from the same family will not mate with each other.

Predators Presumably, this moth uses its eyespots to imitate a larger animal and scare away predators.

Fun Fact A hybrid moth species was created by breeding the Spanish moon moth and the Indian moon moth (Actias Selene).

(Source: Wikipedia, Moth Identification, The Butterfly Babe)