Lovely Moth Photos By Emmet Gowin

Lovely Moth Photos by Emmet Gowin

Undescribed Megalopygidae moth

Cresera intense

Family: Erebidae

Distribution: French Guyana, Brazil, Amazon region

Eubergia caisa

Family: Saturniidae

Distribution: the Cerrado (Paraguay, Bolivia and Brazil)

Psilacron gordiana

Family: Notodontidae

Distribution: Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia

Vine Sphinx (Eumorpha vitis)

Family: Sphingidae

Distribution: Northern Argentina, Central America, West Indies, Mexico, Southern USA

Undescribed Pterophoridae moth

Neorcarnegia basirei

Family: Saturniidae

Distribution: unknown

Psilopygida walkeri

Family: Saturniidae

Distribution: unknown

Orodesma apicina

Family: Erebidae

Distribution: Cuba, Central America and Florida

Moth???

In the article I drew these photos from it says it's called Mosera apollinairei but I can't find any info on them

Moths are currently undergoing a lot of taxonomic revision so that might be why

The article says Dognin discovered them, and he worked mainly on South American moths so yeah it's probably from around there.

Reminder that one of the og moth ocs was killer moth, a flamboyant batman villain who saw an article about batman in prison and decided to become his nemesis (if that isn't a little fruity idk what is). Also he had a mothmobile with antennae on the front and a cocoon gun which he used to wrap up his enemies

Top tier character design tbh.

Image sources: wikipedia and DC database

Moths flying in slow motion gif pack!

Source

Please credit me if you use these

Watch Out!! Friends about!! 🚘🦝‼️

Hey whats up my darlinks (read in old russian woman voice) I've been editing my old posts for clarity and also, in the case of this particular post, for misinformation. Not to worry, the whole thing isn't bs but I simply changed the largest saturniid moth from the hercules moth to the atlas moth, and adjusted the wingspan of the atlas moth to reflect that. As they say on this hellsite: "you are not immune to propaganda" so yeah my silly goofy ass may have believed a source I shouldn't have.

(also tomorrow I'm adding image sources where i left them out)

Saturniid Moths

(aka those moths with the eyes)

Moths from the Saturniidae family are probably the most well known moth species around. This family has approximately 1500 species distributed worldwide, although they're more common in tropical areas. They have these fake eyes that they don't display when at rest, but when disturbed, they flap their wings, displaying eyes made to mimic owl or snake eyes, and that gives them enough time to escape their predators. These eyes are easily their most recognizable feature. They also have very large wings, the largest saturniid has a wingspan of up to 30 cm (but we'll talk about that later). They are mostly nocturnal, and easily attracted to light, although some are diurnal. Adults cannot eat because their mouthparts don't function. In some places, their caterpillars (like the mopane worm) are eaten.

Check out this interesting diagram of Saturniidae moth sizes in Indiana. It should give a general idea of how big most Saturniidae are.

Some iconic saturniids include:

The Io moth (Automeris io)

These guys are sexually dimorphic, the male is the yellow one the female is the brown one above it. They have unusually large eyespots even for saturniids. They are distributed across Canada, the US and Mexico.

The Luna moth (Actias luna)

Pictured here is a male luna moth, luna moths are sexually dimorphic and the females look similar although more triangular in shape. Fun fact: the 'tails' on their wings are there to help reduce predation as bats will chomp on them instead of, for example, a main part of their wing which may prevent them from flying and/or enable the bat to have better grip on them and just eat them. Distributed across the US and Canada.

The Atlas moth (Attacus atlas)

As you can see, these guys are pretty big. Their wingspan can be up to 30 cm wide. Fun fact: their cocoons are so strong they are sometimes used as purses. Distributed across China, India, Malaysia and Indonesia.

Hercules moth (Coscinocera hercules)

VERY VERY BIG. The females have the biggest wing surface area (300 square cm) of all extant insects. They have a rather large wingspan as well, around 27 cm. The caterpillars can sometimes take more than a year to metamorphose. Native to Northern Australia and New Guinea.

Sources:

Saturniid moth

Family saturniidae

Cool study on moth diversity in Mexico

Io moth

Luna moth

Largest moth

Spotlight: the atlas moth

Hercules moth

Moths with larger hindwings and longer tails are best at deflecting bats (very interesting read)

May I introduce you to these amazing textile sculptures by Yumi Okita:

The effort!! The texture!!! Super cool :)

Her etsy:

https://www.etsy.com/shop/irohandbags/sold?ref=shopinfo_sales_leftnav