Garden Pictures Pictures by DiOhio (541 photos)
Luna Moth Actias luna
One of the bad things about taking your tropical plants out into the garden for the summer. Apparently a Luna moth larva pupated in one of the plant pots and eclosed in the warm house in March, way too early for others of his species. I found him flying around the house one evening. The only purpose of the adult Luna is to mate and then die. They have no mouthpart (proboscis) so they can't eat. I kept this moth inside and made him comfortable until he lived out his short life of about 10 days. The Luna moth uses many different trees for their host, including alder, beeches, cherries, hazelnut, hickories, pecan, sweet gum, and willows. A Luna makes his cocoon in a leaf that then drops to the ground where they winter over until anywhere between May and July here in Ohio.
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Comments on this photo
23 Mar, 2008
Thank you for explaining all about the creatures you photograph. It really is fascinating, thanks Di.
23 Mar, 2008
What an amazing creature! But so sad that he couldn't pass on his genes.
23 Mar, 2008
Interesting moth. I've never seen anything like this before.
10 Aug, 2008
Very interesting - thank you. I found one of these on the back of my house this week and was in the same spot for two days. I took a picture of it with my cell phone and no one could tell me what it was!
What else?
This photo is of species Actias luna.
Joined 12 Feb, 2008
Ontario
23 Mar, 2008
My favourite moth - gorgeous!