Lepidopterology - Tumblr Posts
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)
Image creds:
[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]
Natural Selection and the Case of the Peppered Moth
If you're anything like me and you spend a lot of time talking about Interesting Facts and Things to anyone who will listen, you may have heard a slightly warped account of the story of the peppered moth. Maybe someone said something like: "Oh yeah and in England there was this moth that turned black during the industrial revolution due to all the coal dust in the air". Which is... not exactly true.
Let me start the story from the beginning. Before the industrial revolution, peppered moths (Biston betularia) were distributed across England, Europe and North America. They existed in 3 morphs: typica (mostly white), carbonaria (mostly black) and insularia (inbetween). Note: I'm mainly going to talk about the typica and the carbonaria morph here.
Before the industrial revolution, the typica morph was the predominant morph. Peppered moths lived in forests filled with light trees and lots of lichen, a good place for a typica morph to blend in. The carbonaria morphs were living life on hard mode, though. They did not blend in, and were more easily picked out by predators like birds. Below you can see how well a typica morph blends into lichen.
Then the fire nation attacked. Jk, then came the industrial revolution. Factories were pumping out coal fumes into the air, covering forests nearby with coal dust and killing the lichen that grew on them. In these forests, the carbonaria morph blended in better. Predators began to pick out typica morphs more often. And so, carbonaria morphs became the predominant morph in forests near industrialized areas.
Naturalists, noticing this, wanted an adequate answer on why this was happening. In the 1950s Bernard Davis Kettlewell used various methods to test the hypothesis that it was natural selection. And indeed it was. Typica morphs were 2x more likely to be eaten in a polluted forest than carbonaria morphs, and vice versa.
This phenomenon was so common, and observed in many other moth species across industrialized areas, that it was even given a name: industrial melanism.
So there you go. The full story of the peppered moth :)
Oh and I should add that in areas where the effects of industrialization were reversed, the typica morph once again becomes more common.
Sources:
Peppered moths: moth life cycle
Peppered moths: natural selection
Peppered moths: dr ketllewell
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.
Moth wings - strategies to avoid predation
Hide and seek (cryptic colouration) and/or hide and seek but I dress up as the thing I'm hiding on (Wasmannian mimicry)
Pictured: a peppered moth and a wave sphinx moth
'Yeah I'm poisonous, look at my scary bright colors' (aposematism) and/or 'Yeah I'm poisonous, I'm similarly coloured to another poisonous moth which you've eaten before so no need to eat me' (Mullerian mimicry)
Pictured: a female leopard magpie moth, a garden tiger moth and several six-spot burnet moths
'Duh I'm poisonous!! I look like [insert other poisonous insect or animal], but please don't test your theory by biting me otherwise you'll find out I'm not actually poisonous' (Batesian mimicry)
Included in the medley: a wasp mimic (male red oak clearwing), a bumblebee mimic (snowberry clearwing) and a spider mimic (a petrophila species)
Image sources:
Sidenote: I hate formatting posts on mobile eeghhhh
https://le.kloofconservancy.org.za/lockdown-an-opportunity-to-appreciate-your-local-biodiversity/
Moths?
Moths? Moths. Moths moths moths :)
PSA: don't pick up random spiky or hairy caterpillars
A lot of them have urticating hairs, which really itch when embedded in the skin and can cause further damage upon ingestion or contact with mucous membranes. Sometimes caterpillars' hairs or spikes are filled with venom which is released into your skin on contact and can hurt like hell and even cause respiratory problems, in the case of southern flannel moth caterpillars (Megalopyge opercularis), picture of one below for reference:
And, in the case of Lonomia obliqua caterpillars, these hairs can even cause internal bleeding and death (with a horrifying death rate of 2,5%). Picture below:
I know, they're cute. But it's not worth it.
Image sources: [1] [2]
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
^ a little fella I found while looking around on it (merveille du jour)
Love love love these spaceship lookin silly guys
Image source: x
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:
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:
Wing surface area: 300 square cm
Largest by weight - the female giant wood moth:
Weight: 30 g max
Largest overall - the female atlas moth:
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
this is a pic from a while ago, but I've always kinda wondered what it was. could you identify it? found in Kentucky, not sure how specific you need for location :)
This is a very pretty female imperial moth!! The males look similar just with a bit more brown on them
The caterpillars are also quite cute and can vary in colour according to which stage of growth they're in or which morph they are
Merry Chrysalis!! (to those who celebrate)
Image source: PetaPixel
Found this pretty little thing a while ago
Any idea what it is?
Saw this and immediately knew it would be a sphingidae moth/sphinx moth!!
This here is a blinded sphinx. They sometimes expose their eyespots, which look like this:
And the reason they're called a blinded sphinx is because their eyespots have no pupil.
Super cool :)
(credits to insectidentification.org for that info bc while I didn't directly quote their website and I'm sure the information isn't exclusively 'theirs', there was a very strongly worded footnote abt plagiarism and i am afraid they will hunt me down)
A guy.
(pellucid hawkmoth)
Image source: orbis pictus
Moths
Moths with fluffy feet.
Moths with lines.
Moths with hindwings that stick out.
Moths that look like leaves.
Moths that look like Ts.
Moths that have been written on in an ancient alien language.
Moths that resemble tiny angels.
Moths that feel like sunset.
Moths with long tails.
Metallic moths for the magpie's hoard.
Just moths. Yeah u get me.
No common name, family Erebidae subfamily Lymantriinae (tussock moths), Euproctis plagiata
Injured emperor moth, family Saturniidae subfamily Saturniinae, Bunaeopsis arabella
Rose-myrtle lappet moth (male), family Lasiocampidae, Trabala vishnou
No common name, family Thyrididae (picture-winged leaf moths) subfamily Siculodinae, Belonoptera selenioides
Moth unknown, family Uraniidae (swallowtail moths) subfamily Epipleminae, genus Epiplema
Japanese owl moth, family Brahmaeidae subfamily Brahmaeinae, Brahmaea japonica
White plume moth, family Pterophoridae, Pterophorus pentadactyla
Common ghost moth (female), family Hepialidae, Hepialus humuli
Pink spirit moth (male), family Saturniidae, Actias rhodopneuma
Burnished brass moth, family Noctuidae, Diachrysia chrysitis
Moths
Moths with fluffy feet.
Moths with lines.
Moths with hindwings that stick out.
Moths that look like leaves.
Moths that look like Ts.
Moths that have been written on in an ancient alien language.
Moths that resemble tiny angels.
Moths that feel like sunset.
Moths with long tails.
Metallic moths for the magpie's hoard.
Just moths. Yeah u get me.
Alright alright i love moths so here goes :)
Elephant hawkmoths can see colour/hue in the dark but not brightness/tone. Humans can see tone but not hue in the dark.
Moths were around before dinosaurs
Moths didn't evolve ears to detect bats but to detect other predators that predated bats
The reason sloths poop on the ground, despite that being a highly vulnerable position with their slow speed, is because they have a symbiotic relationship with moths. The moth larva feed on their poop and the moth adults help to grow algae in their fur, which they eat for nutrients (hypothetically, this hasn't been confirmed)
Some moths don't have mouthparts or digestive systems. Their adult stage is just for sexy times. Then death.
Earless moths make sounds with their wings that deter bats. The structure of the wings is sort of corrugated and when they flap them it makes the corrugation crackle.
Don't mention moths in front of me, I'll start screaming the name of moths I like
I don't actually know a lot about moths. Hey. Hey moth people on Tumblr. Fun moth facts? Favourite moths?
In light of the recent popularity of my moth building poll, i shall be attempting to draw the moth when the poll closes :))
Anyone else who wants to draw it is welcome to!!
(if i forget im sorry feel free to annoy me abt it)
Moths are cool!
"I thought you were scared of-"
MOTHS ARE COOL
Moth Omens!!:) I love moths and good omens so I just had too