Charismatic Moths of the South

Ever since we bought our first field guide in Florida, we've wanted to see a Luna Moth. They're the poster species for charismatic moths, with their large size, long, twisted tail, and that awesome glow-in-the-dark shade of green. We've known to check the sweetgum trees around here, because we'd heard they use them as a host plant, but with their brief adult lives, we knew we'd have to be pretty lucky to come across one: they only live for a week in their adult phase, having no mouth and no ability to eat. So imagine our surprise when a luna moth found us!

Luna Moth! As glorious as we'd hoped

Digiscoped shot, from just outside our apartment

Our third-floor apartment overlooks a sweet marsh, but it's not the first place I'd expect to find creatures of any magnificence. A few weeks ago, though, I spotted a Luna Moth on way home from work, 30 feet from our front door. It stayed two full days, and then (presumably) flew off. For a moth with so much to accomplish, and so little time to do it in, it seems imprudent to have spent 48 hours loitering on the ceiling of our breezeway, but I'm not complaining. Earlier this week, a second Luna appeared at nearly the exact same spot. I'm not sure what it is their drawn to, but I hope it doesn't ever change while we're still living here.

Luna Moth -- here it kind of reminds me of SpaceShipOne. I would have assumed the tail is
decorative, but the resemblance makes me wonder if it serves an aerodynamic function.

Lunas are incredible moths, but only one in a string of charismatic moths that have shown up recently. Last year while taking a stroll through Whitemarsh Preserve we came across both Io Moth and Imperial Moth caterpillars. How appropriate then that the very day Maureen found a dead adult Imperial Moth at work, I found an adult Io Moth on the wall outside the gym. I wasn't sure it what it was at first, since the forewings were covering its beautiful and iconic eyespots. I gently moved its forewings aside, and immediately realized what I was looking at. Another great moth species finding me when I was least suspecting it.

Io Moth -- little did I suspect the magnificence that lay just beneath those forewings

Ah yes -- now that's an Io Moth

And then a Tersa Sphinx Moth found its way into the hall outside our door. This season had suddenly become an embarrassment of riches. This is our second autumn living here, and we never came across any spectacular moths last year. For some mysterious reason, we're crossing paths pretty regularly now. The sphinx moth stayed for between two and three days, changing position everyone and a while, like to the opposite wall. Another, smaller moth was here at the same time, and strangely, they seemed like they were best buddies: whenever we saw that one had moved, we'd find the other one just a couple of feet away. When one had finally left the breezeway, the other had too.

Tersa Sphinx Moth -- an almond with wings

An oblique view of the Tersa Sphinx Moth. The wings look like they're made of wood paneling

Unidentified moth sp. -- wherever the sphinx moth went, this little fella went, too

Finally, last weekend we went a-warblin' at the Solomon Tract section of the Savannah NWR (just before the government shutdown, thankfully). We were quite taken with a particular plant that had purple pods hanging down the entire length of its stalks, and which also grew some lovely yellow flowers. Near a row of these plants we saw a pair of vibrant pink wings take flight, which, after they settled, found that they belonged to a striking Ornate Moth (Utetheisa ornatrix). The pink hindwings were hidden as it rested, but the visible bits were no less alluring. We later discovered that moths in the Utetheisa genus, which Ornate Moths belong to, are collectively known as "rattlebox moths" after those pod plants nearby (Crotalaria), which serve as an important food source for them.

"Rattlebox"

Flowers of the "rattlebox" plant

Ornate Moth

It's been quite the month or so for charismatic moths. We'll keep our eyes out for more, but if our luck holds they'll continue to greet us when we open the door!

Who needs to go moth hunting when the moths come to you? I stepped outside and
this one landed right on the front of my shirt. It's been an unusually lucky moth month!

UPDATE: Literally within five seconds of my posting this our lifer Polyphemous Moth flew up to our patio screen and attached itself. Unbelievable!!

Caterpillars!

Despite countless admonitions from my mom to look out for snakes when we hit the trails, we're nearly always looking up. True, we do find the occasional bird slithering on its belly, but mostly, the things we're interested in are in the trees. And how much must we be missing! Entirely by accident, we (nearly) stumbled on a couple of exciting caterpillars several weeks ago, while we were exploring nearby Whitemarsh Preserve.

The first of these chunky grubs looked like it had seedling conifers sprouting all over the length of its body. These bright green fireworks made it so unlike any other caterpillar we've seen that it instantly jumped to the top of my short list for charismatic insect of the year (a distinction I've created in its honor). It wasn't until later that we discovered that this was an Io Moth (Automeris io) caterpillar. Not surprisingly (we certainly didn't need to be told after looking at it), the bristles are stinging to the touch -- woe to the dog who finds it along the walking trails! (Mythology tangent: the name Io is reference to the caterpillar's sting. Zeus, in trying to conceal Io from Hera transformed her into a white heifer; Hera, outranged, consequently sent a gadfly to sting Io into madness.)

Wandering away, and still high on our good fortune, we came across another awesome find - this time an Imperial Moth caterpillar. At first, we thought it may have been a Luna Moth caterpillar (we're anxious to find a Luna Moth of any age), but these plump little fella's hardly inspire disappointment. We did feel pity, though. We found him right in the middle of a well-traveled footpath, where he was evidently oozing viscera out one end. Unfortunately, its flashy colors couldn't catch the eye of whichever jogger or bicyclist it was who trod over it. 

And just a little ways away, we found another Imperial Moth caterpillar. This was was also right in the middle of the path, although, it seemed not to have been stepped on (yet). With the fate of its cousin fresh in our minds, we took care to move this one off to the side before any new tragedy unfolded. 

With any luck, we'll get to see either of these species as adults someday soon, short-lived as they are (both are members of the family Saturniidae, which have vestigal mouthparts and do not feed). We still have yet to find any saturniids in the wild.

In a somewhat related vein, we also recently visited the butterfly garden at the Savannah National Wildlife Refuge across the river in South Carolina. I mention this mainly because I took a photo of a Monarch chrysalis with my phone, which I'm particularly keen to show off (just look at how that dew glistens!).

 
And for good measure, also hanging about was an especially photogenic (because it was dead) Fiery Skipper. And that, I believe, neatly concludes our brief journey through the life cycle of the Lepidoptera.