🦋 MOTHS 🦋

Rosy Maple Moth Dryocampa rubicunda

The Rosy Maple Moth is a small north american moth, it belongs to the Dryocampa genus, it has a wingspan of 3-4.5 cm in males (females are slightly bigger), making them wery smol. They feed on maple leaves and as adult moths have a light pink-yellow color scheme. Their antennae and legs are pink, but their wings are pink-yellow as previously mentioned.

Their life cycle begins with eggs, which are laid shortly after fertilization. The eggs themselves are tiny in size and yellow in color. They hatch after ~2 weeks or so, upon which their larvae come out. The larvae are at first small and light green, they go through 5 moults before pupating anywhere from 2 weeks to the duration of winter. Then the adorable little fuzzy pink moths come out :3. If you wish to learn about their life cycle in more detail, check out this video from someone WAY more qualified to talk than me. (this goes for basically every species I'll cover!)

Domestic Silk Moth Bombyx mori

You've probably seen this moth online already! Maybe you saw it in some of the wonderful work of Jaklynns or in some of the countless moth art pieces which use it as a reference. The domestic silk moth as the name implies is a domesticated species of silk moth which is used in the production of silk (specifically it's cocoon). Sadly, during silk production these cocoons are boiled with the moth still inside, which creates a high-quality and smooth final product. This doesn't have to be the case, there are ethical ways to make silk which allow the moths to complete their life cycle, it's called peace silk or ahimsa silk and I highly suggest you purchase it instead of ordinary silk the next time you shop for materials or clothing

Anyways back to the moth, it begins it's life cycle ~14 days after fertilization and egg-laying, as the larvae emerge from their eggs. The larvae are quite picky eaters, prefering to eat only White Mulberry (though they will eat other Mulberries if white isn't available). The larvae are white in color and eat continiously, they typically turn darker before multing (which they do 4 times before cocooning). They then make their cocoon out of hundreds of meters of super thin raw silk, and emerge after ~2 weeks. Here is video of silk moth breeding done by an expert.

If the moth survives the cocoon stage, it will emerge as an adult domestic silk moth, and is characterized as small (3-5cm wingspan) white and fuzzy. Sadly due to centuries of inbreeding and domestication, these moths have lost their ability to fly, as well as their survival instincts and today have major fertility issues. Despite how badly they are treated and how deformed they've become due to humanity, these moths are still adorable :3

Autumn Empror Moth Perisomena caecigena

A lesser known moth from the genus of Saturniidae, they're common in Southeastern Europe, Cyprus and Turkey, with endemic populations in Palestine and Iraq (Nässig 2002, Khudhur 2020). They have a beautiful soft pink-yellow pattern on their wings, which have a span of 6-8 cm (smaller in subspecies).

As the name implies, they are active during autumn, starting in September and peaking around late October, before ending in November. During this time they breed and lay eggs, which stay dormant until early spring. Once the eggs hatch the caterpillars will slowly mature until late spring, before pupating and waiting to autumn. The larvae typically feed on Oak, but they've been found to like other trees too, notably Pear and Beech. When autumn comes again they emerge from theur pupa as beautiful adult Autumn Emperor Moths, they only live for about 7 days if unpaired, and even less if otherwise,

Overall this is an insanely cool moth to me, and I will try to trap some of them this October (as they are active in my area) and post pictures on here! I really missed my chance to see cool moths this summer, so I'm really glad such a beautiful species is active during autumn where I live.

African Death's Head Hawkmoth Acherontia atropos

This moth is the most recognizable member of the genus Acherontia, they are easily identified by the skull-like marking on their thorax (hence the name) and they're present in Africa year-round and during the summer in most of Europe. Their wingspan ranges from 80 to 120mm and I'm not exactly sure what the main identifiable difference between males and females is but afaik the males emerge before the females from their pupae.

This species has a super pretty larval stage that pairs nicely with their adult stage. They're green with diagonal stripes on their body and also something which to me looks teal-ish (?) ((Im colorblind sorgy)). They usually feed on Potato leaves in this stage (or generally nightshades) which can classify them as a minor pest. They go through 4 instars before pupating, and in the European part of their range they overwinter as pupa. It is good to note that they can bite while in caterpillar form, but the bite is ineffective to humans, though I guess you should still be careful while handling them maybe.

The adult stage is there this moth truly shines, I've already described them a bit but it doesn't really do them justice so just see the pic attached. What's really unique about these moths is that they can produce a squeaking by rapidly moving air through their pharynx, they use this squeak when agitated, so the first time handling them in captivity will result in many annoyed moth squeaks. In their adult stage they also steal honey from bees, by entering the hive and producing a bee-like scent, which allows it to eat the honey and leave unnoticed and unharmed. They also have an oily substance on their bodies, which helps protect against stings (this is also why they need to be de-greased if they're gonna be kept as specimens after death!!!). These moths are NOT harmful for bees, there is no scientific evicende for this, they don't eat bees (they dont have jaws) they don't kill hives or deplete bee food supplies either. If you see any of these claims know it is disinformation.