This gorgeous Imperial Moth (Eacles imperialis)was dropped off at the gardens today by a coworker who found this awesome moth hanging out on our loading dock. Imperial moths are members of the Saturniidae family of moths to which also belongs the giant silk moths. The larvae of this moth grow to a rather remarkable 4 inches in length and in their brown form resemble a hot dog with horns. In their green form, they are just kinda freaky!
When the larvae have reached full size, they burrow into the ground to pupate. Adults emerge once a year and begin searching for a mate. Females call out to males by emitting pheramones that the male moths can detect up to a mile away from a female. Once mated, the female can lay up to 200 eggs. As adults, the moths do not eat. Instead they subsist entirely on nutrients that they consumed as larvae which gives them a reduced lifespan of about one week.
The large dark patches on the fore-wing indicate 
that this moth is likely a male. Females of this species are generally a bit larger in size and more yellow in color. As I have no females for this particular moth to spend quality time with, I will release him into the wild this afternoon so that he may continue his search, perhaps flying several miles in just one night looking for a mate. That's dedication!
that this moth is likely a male. Females of this species are generally a bit larger in size and more yellow in color. As I have no females for this particular moth to spend quality time with, I will release him into the wild this afternoon so that he may continue his search, perhaps flying several miles in just one night looking for a mate. That's dedication!Check out some really amazing pictures of Imperial Moth larvae in this scrapblog I made last year. The photos of the caterpillars were taken by MOSI alumni TJ Couch here in the BioWorks Butterfly Garden at MOSI.
We had an Imperial Moth come and lay some of her eggs on one of our house screens and now she has parked herself on our back door a few feet away. She's beautiful and it has been a treat to look at her.
ReplyDeleteIf you manage to get some good photos, please consider uploading them to Project Noah for the Butterflies and Moths of the World mission. Sitings like your can help scientists better understand distribution, range and time of year when various animals are active. You can find the Project Noah website here: http://www.projectnoah.org/
ReplyDeleteMy cat caught a male Imperial Moth about two weeks ago and damaged its wings to the point the moth could no longer fly. Being an environmental studies major, I placed the moth in ethyl acetate and pinned it. Last night the cat found another imperial, and slashed a small gash in the abdomen. The VERY larger difference in this case was that the moth had wings only 1/4 the length of the abdomen. It looked more like a caterpillar than a moth but was definitely trying to use the small wings for flight. don't get me wrong, the wings were still nearly 1/2'' long but the body was around two inches. I brought it inside still alive and it began oozing eggs from the gash in that abdomen. I left quite a few of the eggs on a leaf of a live oak in my front yard. I have the moth pinned and mounted now because the injuries would have killed it regardless. I hated killing the amazing specimen but it was truly unique. I would love to know if this was some sort of genetic mutation, or just a common occurrence. I have seen dozens of Imperial moths before and this one was the strangest insect I have ever seen. There is nothing like it in web archives or in my college's collection. Let me know what you think?
ReplyDeleteCould you get a few pictures so I can have a better idea of the appearance? You can email me at kristeng@mosi.org
ReplyDelete