mysticmothworld - moths are cool
moths are cool

special interest in moths so this is my infodump station | i do IDs!! | sideblog is @oinglboingl | credits to Olivier Bouteleux for the avatar and @campesine-moved for the header | sideblog is @oinglboingl

263 posts

Reminder That One Of The Og Moth Ocs Was Killer Moth, A Flamboyant Batman Villain Who Saw An Article

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

Killer moth dressed in a green, orange and purple suit with antennae
The cover for an issue of batman with killer moth, called 'the origin of killer moth'
Killer moth standing in front of the mothmobile saying: 'The first product of the moth cave... The mothmobile! Complete to these moth-like antennae which warn of approaching danger on the dashboard radar screen.

Top tier character design tbh.

Image sources: wikipedia and DC database

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More Posts from Mysticmothworld

1 year ago

Honourary non-moth post: the peanut-head lanternfly

Sometimes mistakenly called the peanut-head moth, these little fellas are part of the order Hemiptera (true bugs) family Fulgoridae (fulgorid planthoppers).

"But why," you may ask, "are they called peanut-heads?" Let me show you.

Honourary Non-moth Post: The Peanut-head Lanternfly

Goofy fella #1

Honourary Non-moth Post: The Peanut-head Lanternfly

Goofy fella #2

These ridiculous false heads are shared by both males and females, so it's not a result of sexual selection. It's theorized that it's to avoid them getting their actual heads bitten off, which if you look at a closeup, is behind the false one:

Honourary Non-moth Post: The Peanut-head Lanternfly

Oh and btw. Even though they're called lanternflies they don't actually glow in the dark. And Costa Ricans believe they're poisonous and if you get bitten by them you have to have sex at least within the next 24 hours, and by some accounts, immediately.

They are distributed across tropical Mexico, Central and South America. And yeah they're just really strange and cool.


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1 year ago

If you live in the uk and want to identify a moth you saw, or if you don't but just want to appreciate some cool uk moths, this site is for you

It lets you enter country, size, colour and any special features of the moth you want to find

If You Live In The Uk And Want To Identify A Moth You Saw, Or If You Don't But Just Want To Appreciate

^ a little fella I found while looking around on it (merveille du jour)


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1 year ago

Is the atlas moth really the biggest moth out there? (spoiler alert: there are different ways of measuring 'big')

Largest by wingspan - the white witch moth:

White witch moth sitting on a tree with person holding out their hand for scale beneath it. The person's hand is slightly smaller.

Wingspan: around 30 cm max

Fun fact: despite its large size the eggs, pupa and caterpillars of this moth remain undocumented. Check out the white witch watch for more info.

Largest by wing area - the female hercules moth:

A brown hercules moth female sitting on a branch

Wing surface area: 300 square cm

Largest by weight - the female giant wood moth:

A gloved hand with a chunky grey moth slightly smaller than the hand sitting on it

Weight: 30 g max

Largest overall - the female atlas moth:

A female atlas moth on a white background

Wingspan: largest recorded 30 cm

Wing area: 157 square cm, according to this site, which doesn't cite any source for that info

Although it's listed in the guiness book of world records as the largest moth, I'm confused as to why that is. The wingspan of the white witch moth is bigger, and the wingspan of the hercules moth is bigger, according to Insect Biodiversity: Science and Society by Robert G. Foottit and Peter H. Adler. The wing surface area of the hercules moth is also bigger according to Amazing Numbers in Biology by Rainier Flindt.

Note on conflicting information: Many of the general use sites I happened upon while trying to find sources closer to the primary source incorrectly quoted this article, sometimes saying Attacus caesar has the second largest wingspan of all moths, and sometimes incorrectly quoting the atlas' moth wingspan as 24 cm or 27 cm when it was 262 mm/26.2 cm in the original article. In my opinion, the atlas moth can't rightfully be called the largest overall moth, but it does hold the record, with the largest wingspan recorded being 30 cm (in the guiness world record).

Image sources:

[1] [2] [3] [4]

Information sources:

White witch wingspan

Hercules moth wing surface area and wingspan

Giant wood moth weight

Atlas moth


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1 year ago

Saturniid Moths

(aka those moths with the eyes)

A large brown moth with distinctive yellow eyespots on its wings

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.

A diagram titled saturniidae in Indiana with silhouettes of various saturniidae moths compared to the size of a coin

Some iconic saturniids include:

The Io moth (Automeris io)

Two io moths, one brown, one yellow with large eyespots on its hindwings

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)

A male luna moth

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)

An atlas moth, sitting on someone's hand. Its wingspan is about as wide as the hand.

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)

A Hercules moth sitting on someone's hand. Its wingspan is slightly larger than the hand.

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)

Image creds:

[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]


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