Walking in an old graveyard the other day, I stumbled upon this baby on a tombstone. I don't actually know what it's called (I'm sure Wabbit will be able to find out in .2 seconds ;]) but the thing was HUGE! I mean that thing was the size of my pointer finger! Damcat got really scared when i brought "Alice" in the house, so did the Old WP, but she got over it and helped take pictures, which actually came out rather well on Deacon's camera. It's actually a shame that she wasn't dead, could have put her in the bug collection. Oh well, enjoy.
PS Old WP took these groundhog pics about 3 months ago but didn't know how to post, so here you go!
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
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Wow, that is one big moth! I'm thinking it's some kind of sphinx or hawk moth, I'll see what I can dig up. We'll have to keep our eyes open and see if we find a dead one. You'd need a bigger display box for sure!
ReplyDeleteGroundhogs are so cute. Too bad they are so destructive.
Great photos, Peas, thanks for posting them!
I found one that is similar, not sure if this is the same moth, I don't think so, but it's has to be in the same family:
ReplyDeleteFive-spotted Hawk Moth
Geez... he's camo ready isn't he!! could be a large piece of bark. Mothzilla for sure! Looking at those orange spots makes me think he'd have been one very large orange catapillar! As long as he isn't a Gypsy Moth your AOK I guess. We have the Huge Lunar Moths down here and they are like small birds when they get flying around looking for nectar.
ReplyDeleteLook at this guy..... you can find him on this link below... and if it was... it would be a VERY rare siting!!! but look at him... white antenae and so close in color etc. what do you think? look at your pictures and compare them... that was a great link wabbit to check out... and ... in a graveyard?? how very perfect!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/species?l=3363
That was exactly the moth I thought the Peas' moth most resembled, but since it doesn't seem to range anywhere near here, I decided it must be a relative, but not an Occult sphinx.
ReplyDeleteHe sure looks right though, doesn't he? Maybe he escaped from somewhere, or got blown up with a storm. I've seen that happen with birds, so why not with moths and butterflies.
I believe your moth is either the five-spotted hawk moth, or it's close cousin, the Carolina sphinx moth.
ReplyDeleteThe larval form of the five-spotted Hawk moth is known as a tomato hornworm. The larval form of the Carolina sphinx is called a tobacco hornworm. So close, and the moths are quite similar. The difference is most obvious in the number of orange spots, but I can't really see if there are five or six spots from the slideshow. Maybe you can look at just that single photo and count them. That should tell us.
And a couple days after my comment about birds being blown north with the weather, look what pops up in the news:
ReplyDeleteAn exhausted tropical bird that landed unexpectedly in eastern Canada recently has wildlife experts amazed and climatologists predicting more will show up in the north in the coming decades...
Read all about it here. Maybe that moth is an Occult Sphinx after all!