On this hot day along the Colorado Front Range, I elected to spend the afternoon indoors, watching the U.S. Open from Torrey Pines. Though the camera shots provided beautiful geographic scenery along the Southern California Coast, I had no intention of writing a blog post. Then, my wife sent a photo (below) from our home in Columbia, Missouri.
It is a luna moth, resting on the wall of our house. A member of the giant silk moth family, these eye-catching insects inhabit the eastern half of North America, from Southern Canada to the Gulf Coast. Those that live in more northern latitudes produce one new generation each year while luna moths in the Southern U.S. may cycle through three generations. Females lay eggs on the underside of leaves; hatching within 10 days, the larvae go through five molts before pupating. The pupal stage lasts about three weeks (or throughout the fall and winter in the North Country) and the adults live but a week, focused solely on mating and egg-laying.
It has been proposed that the long "tails," extending from their secondary wings, confuse bats (their primary predators) by interfering with echolocation. Whatever the reason, adult luna moths are one of our more attractive and distinctive insects. Now, back to the golf match!
