#madagascan moon moth

[scottpartridge]

Comet Moth, Argema mittrei : Day 15 of #invertober

[snototter]

A comet moth (Argema mittrei) in Andasibe, Madagascar

by Andy Wilson

[moths-daily]

Moth Of The Day #67

Comet Moth / Madagascan Moon Moth

Argema mittrei

From the saturniidae family. They have a wingspan of 20cm and a tail span of 15 cm. They inhabit the deepest part of the Madagascan rainforest, they are becoming endangered due to their habitat loss. 

[sandpaperoctopi]

Invertober Day 15: comet moth

[libraryofmoths]

Moth of the Week

Comet Moth

Argema mittrei

TW: Trypophobia for pictures

The comet moth or the Madagascan moon moth was first described in 1847 by Félix Édouard Guérin-Méneville. This moth is a part of the Saturniidae family and is one of the largest silk moths. This species receives its genus name Argema, meaning 'speckled eye' in Greek, from the large eyespots on its forewings and hindwings. Additionally, the name comet moth comes from their long hindwing tails.

Description The comet moth has large yellow wings with magenta patterns by the head, at the tips and outer margin of the forewings, the top and bottom of the hindwings, and the stem of the hindwing tails. Furthermore, the top edge of the forewings, outer edge of the hindwings, and both sides of the tail are outlined in black. Each of the hindwings and the forewings have large magenta and orange eyespots also outlined in black. The final touch on the wings are white accents by the head and in the eyespots. The body of the comet moth is yellow or a yellow-orange with the top of the legs matching then fading to black. They also have orange antennae.

Females have more rounded wings and larger bodies for egg laying

Average male wingspan: 20 cm (≈7.9 in)

Average male tail span of 15 cm (≈5.9 in)

The males have a longer, more feathery antennas than the females to pick up mating pheromones

Males have longer, thinner tails while females have shorter, thicker ones

Diet and Habitat This moth’s diet and host plants include the smoke tree, the marula tree, the Brazilian peppertree, and the cider gum tree. Most sources say adult moths do not feed because of their inability to use their shrunken mouths. Comet moths are native to Madagascar and nowhere else in the world. Their natural habitat are the Madagascan rainforests. However, they can and have been bred in captivity. Today due to habitat loss, their range is limited to the rainforests located south and east of Madagascar’s capital.

Mating Female moths release and pheromone to attract male mates, who fly to find them. After mating, the females lay 120 to 170 eggs on the host plants that will hatch into caterpillars in 10 to 20 days.

Predators Chameleons, geckos, bats, and birds prey on comet moths. To combat this, the comet moth uses its colors to camouflage itself. Additionally, it uses its long tails to mess with a bat’s echolocation and cause it to attack the tails instead of the moth’s vulnerable body. Furthermore, this species has the ability to use ultrasound absorption so the bat’s echo will come back fainter, and the moth is harder to “see.”Finally, the wing’s eyespots are used to fool predators into thinking the comet moth is a more dangerous animal. The largest current threat to comet moths are humans, and this moth is now endangered sure to habitat loss.

Fun Fact This moth used to be on the 1000 Malagasy ariary banknote.

(Source: Wikipedia, AZ Animals, Natural History Museum UK, The Company of Biologists, Moth Identification)

[dailymothuntilmothreturns]

daily moth 18 Madagascan moon moth/Comet moth

image source (1) (2) (3)

[tyldamerle]

Moths✨

-Ruby tiger

-ghostly silk

-Madagascan moon

[artofmindspice]

Flaming Moon Moth

Testing my neon skills in Procreate with this gem, based on a Madagascan Moon Moth (Comet Moth)~

[strbrrygashes]

thinking about the exquisite beauty of moths…

how blessed we are to exist at the same time as these creatures

[creese]

Madagascan Sunset Moth by Michael Creese

[lamothla]

Anyone wanna see uhhhh my dead bugs

With my current living situation I have no where to display them. I will be able to once I move

[mintaikk]

Comet Moth Facts

I found out about this moth a couple months ago and I wanna talk about it because I find it really pretty.

The Comet moth, also known as the Madagascan Moon Moth, is a yellow moth species native to the rainforest of Madagascar. They were given their name because of the "tails" they have on their feathers. But their genus name, Argema, comes from Ancient Greece, meaning "speckled eye," as a reference to the eye-like patterns on their wings. Male Comet moths have longer "tails" than female Comet moths

Oh, they also can't eat in adulthood. Their only purpose is to breed, and they end up dying a week later due to starvation.

[puppetmaster13u]

Behold, some moth & butterfly inspiration for each batfam member (probably missed some lol) 

Bruce: 

Dick

Barbara

Jason

Cassandra

Stephanie

Tim

Duke

Harper

Terry

Damian

Mathew 

Jarro

IF Alfred were to join in:

IF Cullen joined in: 

Robins:

What if instead of being batman

Mothman

Would the robins still be robins? Who knows.

Mothman is definitely fluffier and might be seen less often than canon batman but honestly who knows.

I do want to say that the robins are based off of other moths and butterflies whenever they start doing their own thing.

For example Nightwing could be based off of a blue morpho

[herpsandbirds]

Comet Moth aka Madagascan Moon Moth (Argema mittrei), male, family Saturniidae, endemic to Madagascar

photograph by Alan Chin Lee

[peach-moths]

give us the moth list bestie i know you wanna talk about it

THE MOTH LIST!!!!!

OK OK OK THIS LIST IS BASED LESS ON PERSONALITY AND MORE ON AESTHETICS LETS BEGIN

RAPH: Atlas Moth (Attacus atlas)

LEO: Scylla Firetip (Elbella scylla)

DONNIE: White-lined sphinx moth (Hyles lineata)

MIKEY: Comet moth/Madagascan moon moth (Argema mittrei)

BONUS CONTENT

APRIL: Madagascan sunset moth (Chrysiridia rhipheus)

SPLINTER: Isabella tiger moth aka wooly bear moth (Pyrrharctia isabella)

CASEY JONES: Glover's silkmoth (Hyalophora gloveri)

CASEY JR: Cabbage tree emperor moth (Bunaea alcinoe)

[daily-dose-of-lepidoptera]

Daily Dose of Lepidoptera

[Day 2]

-Owl Moth-

Brahmaea wallichii

-Staudinger’s Longtail-

Erateina staudingeri

-Comet Moth- (Also known as the Madagascan Moon Moth)

Argema mittrei