My friends Bill and Jill came over, and we were on the back porch and found this giant moth:
Bill deals with plant ecology and thinks it might be a cecropia (he knows for sure it is a giant silkworm), but we don’t know. Anyone know for sure? This specimen is a little beat up, but it is still pretty damned magnificent- about 5-6 inches wide. The picture here does not do justice to the texture of the wings.
TR
What you have there is known as “Mothra.”
The wings are probably torn up from a fight with Godzilla. Maybe Gamera.
Elie
Gorgeous — with velvety wings.
How lucky you were to spot this beautiful creature doing its moth thing … looking for a mate and romance on a hot summer night…
BGinCHI
I for one welcome our new insect overlords.
Nick
Cats, yes. Dogs, yes. Giant flying bugs? Noooo …
General Stuck
Big Bug.
Bootlegger
I have those here in central Kentucky, saw one this evening. Don’t know the fancy name, we just call them “those giant moths”. Yes, they are stunning.
TaMara (BHF)
I’m thinking that is what a variety of hornworm turns into, a type of hummingbird moth, but not sure from the picture.
Here are a variety of them.
See if any of them look right.
Polish the Guillotines
It rubs the lotion on it’s skin.
Elie
Polyphemus
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://tdserver1.fnal.gov/peterson/tom/Moths/GiantSilkMoths04/Polyphemus18June03-2sc.jpg&imgrefurl=http://tdserver1.fnal.gov/peterson/tom/Moths/GiantSilkMoths04/GiantSilkMoths.html&h=388&w=716&sz=29&tbnid=pqwXc9lb9Fqd3M:&tbnh=76&tbnw=140&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dpolyphemus%2Bmoth&hl=en&usg=__z56DJbSXLlrli-YkclP8Ii3hX7U=&sa=X&ei=lpY2TI6DNsP98AbUhcXhAw&ved=0CC0Q9QEwBg
Crecopia is also pictured beneath and looks nothing like this
Martin
Tunch vs Mothra! Battle of the radioactive megabeasts!
Ratufa
Looks a lot like this:
http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/species?l=3290
Or perhaps a species related to this:
http://www.prairieghosts.com/moth.html
eemom
Good Mr. Cole, I have marveled today upon the fact that, in the last 24 hours alone, you have generated 100+ comment threads on posts whose topics consisted of (1) a yucky odorous boo-boo on a cat ass, and (2) stepped-in dog vomit.
That’s pretty damn impressive. What other blogger out there can do that?
That said, it’s nice to have a pretty moth thread. I love those eye-ish buttons on his wings.
TaMara (BHF)
@Elie: Yeah, I think if the size is right, that looks like it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antheraea_polyphemus
Martin
I know the Aspen Ideas Festival is worthy of limitless contempt and mockery, but Fallows has me all curious about this.
Bootlegger
Not sure it’s cecropia though.
Here is some information on the giant silkworm moths, Saturniinae, but I didn’t see your visitor in there.
John Cole
I think it is pretty. It is even more grand when you see it real and experience the textures. Even all beat up like this one.
@Elie: Definitely polyphemus. Bill said it was a giant silkworm species, just was not sure which one. That got lost in translation when I posted and he made me edit it to make sure he did not sound like an idiot (“You should tell them I said it was a giant silkworm so I don’t sound stupid.”).
I told him that not only do they not know who you are, but I say stupid things every day.
John Cole
@eemom: Interesting things are interesting!
Mino
It looks like a variety of hawk moth.
Bootlegger
@TaMara (BHF): May be Antheraea_polyphemus but the bottom wings are missing (or hidden).
Elie
Its Polyphemus —
Just think this gorgeous creature (along with the Luna and Cecropia) are as adults only devoted to procreation. They do not eat once adult, just mate and die within a week of reaching sexual maturity…
One week of such beauty…
apikoros
Polyphemus for sure!
see this for a nice picture and defintion. They are pretty common in the whole mid-Atlantic region.
Ailuridae
Unrelated but the size of the crush I am developing on the new TDS correspondent, Olivia Munn cannot be overstated. Beautiful, bright, exceptionally droll.
The Dangerman
Feel a remake coming on: Silence of the Lambs, er, Tunch, er something or other…
freelancer (itouch)
My friends Andy and Mandy just called to say that y’all suck as lepidopterists.
That is all.
S. cerevisiae
Polyphemus or Io moth, lightly touch the outside of the wings and she will open them.
jharp
I knew those as “luna moths” and used to see them when I lived in north central Ohio. And from one of the links it seems I was right.
S. cerevisiae
The giant silkworm moths do not have any digestive system, they are basically a sex battery.
mr. whipple
@TaMara (BHF):
Antheraea, brother of Mothra.
General Stuck
@eemom: I love these kinds of threads also, too. My minor in college was Entomology, and all my friends got a kick out of me running around town with a butterfly net. When we went out partying in the great outdoors, I always brought the net along with a kill jar, running around stoned as Tommy Chong scooping up insects. My buds would be rolling in the dirt laughing their asses off.
Wayner
I’m sure someone has already beaten me to it, but since I’m too lazy to read the other comments: This is a Polyphemus. A member of the Lepidopteran family Saturniidae (as is the Cecropia, which has similar eyespots but is a darker grayish tan with reddish highlights.)
I found a gigantic specimen outside of Jimmy’s Steakhouse in Columbia, MO in September of 1997 when I was taking an insect systematics class at Mizzou. Also reared one from a coccoon that my Dad found in the winter of 1986, which is what started my fascination with entomology. Bringing the coccoon inside sped up the metamorphosis process and that guy eclosed in february, so I had no choice but to save him (yes, I can tell the sex) the indignity of freezing to death outside and kill, pin, dry, and put him in my collection.
Now I live in Colorado where it’s too dry and cold to support many insects besides the wood boring beetles that are killing the pines of the Rockies.
suzanne
I dunno what it is, but if you found it in a dead girl’s throat, run like hell.
Polish the Guillotines
@The Dangerman: When Tunch posts a picture of himself wearing Cole’s skin as a dress, we’ll know for sure.
frosty
@Martin: Agreed on both points. Pretty much combining the words “Aspen” and “Ideas” leads to unlimited mockery. And the ads in the magazine with all the hoi-polloi gland-handing each other are just puke-worthy. Pardon me, oh mighty ones, for having to grind out a living and not meet you on the mountaintops.
Nonetheless, anyone who has any ideas to get us out of this horrible media mess can have my attention, limited though it is. Fallows’s comment on how he’s been mired in the journalism swamp and just figured that’s the way it is was kind of an eye-opener, too.
jeffreyw
Took this snap of a Luna moth mid April. He was fluttering about on the screen, Toby was going apeshit inside. I hung out the window and got the pic while Mrs J held Toby.
MikeJ
Silk pyjamas for all Balloon Juice readers!
Wayner
Also, if you want to see more of these, I should add that a friend of mine and I used to (get stoned, first) and go “moth sugaring” in the Mark Twain Nat’l Forest, where you basically make a syrup of equal parts rotten bananas, sugar, and beer, and then paint that concoction on a tree and shine a black light on it. You will get every Saturniid in a 5 mile radius. Lunas, Cecropias, Polyphemus, Io, etc.
Awesome Saturday night entertainment.
Martin
Ok, I just read that Obama is a racist because of the tax on tanning salons. When do we march on DC?
CaseyL
@jeffreyw: Where do you live, jeffreyw, that you have such magnificent creatures in the air?
I do love the dramatic, huge insects: millipedes, walking sticks, horned beetles, giant moths and butterflies and, above all, the mantids, who I swear are from another freaking galaxy. The sheer miraculous oddness and beauty of them never fail to make me smile.
fourmorewars
Did you notice he’s got a buddy, there? Do moths have remoras?
Allison W.
RUUUUUUUUUUUUNNNNNNNNNNNN!!!!!!
Tokyokie
@TR:
Mothra would never get into a fight with Gamera. They worked for different studios. Now King Ghidorah, on the other hand ………
Corner Stone
@Ailuridae: God. Attack of the Show? G4? Get with it man.
You really aren’t very bright.
fourlegsgood
It is Mothra’s offspring. Clearly.
S. cerevisiae
I can’t believe the regulars
pervertshere didn’t jump on “sex battery”asiangrrlMN
That’s a great-looking moth, Cole. It’s fascinating to read people’s guesses on what it is (I have no clue). And, as for stupid things, yeah, that’s one of the reasons we love you so much.
wonkie
In Iowa we called them gypsy moths. And yes they are as big as hummingbirds. Or bigger. The caterpillars are huge too as big as an adult’s finger, and green.
JL
THAT IS NOT A MOTH!
I’m with the Ames Research Center… Oh, Jeezuz, bear with me… decades ago, we extracted DNA from chimps that had been shot into space… people laugh at The Simpsons episode, but so help me God they could speak upon return…. so naturally we began to experiment… little did we suspect*******
*****[Transmission Ended].
Mnemosyne
Butterfly and moth lovers should see if their local natural history museum has a butterfly pavilion in the summer. They’re really cool and feature a lot of local species that you might not spot on your own.
jl
Only think I ask is that I do not have to read a post tomorrow morning about how Cole stepped on the big moth in the middle of the night. OK?
Just be careful tonight, please.
Has the Ferocious Tunch noticed it? We had a cat when I was a kid, and moths would drive it crazy. As soon as she saw a moth, getting at that critter become the irreversible Prime Directive. Nothing got in the way. Not people, not lampshades, not drapes, not unnoticed until too late voids behind chairs and tables. One or the other had to be captured and removed, either the moth or the cat.
jharp
Anyone here ever seen or heard of “hummingbird moths”?
Pretty cool.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i21A5gNl3N4
S. cerevisiae
jharp- bird lovers often get questions about “hummingbirds” with antennae- that is always the giveaway for a Sphynx moth
Ailuridae
@Corner Stone:
You’re painfully stupid. I’ve been reading the comments here for the better part of two years and you have yet to add anything. Its probably time for you to threaten someone on the internet about now
wonkie
Oh that’s right. We called them Sphinx moths! I remembered wrong.
fucen tarmal
i shit you not
lebron james move helps tea party
bizzle
FULL ON GIANT SILKWORM. ALL THE WAY!
Joel
@fucen tarmal: Lebron James demonstrates the unique combination of being completely self-unaware and mindnumbingly conceited. These traits are shared by few others, but Sarah Palin is certainly one of those others.
asiangrrlMN
@fucen tarmal: Aaaaaand just like that, you’ve connected two of my least favorite stories of the moment. Nice!
Where my nighttime BJ bitchez at?
Yutsano
@asiangrrlMN: Here. Kinda. Slightly overcommitted myself tomorrow but it’ll all be good. Plus I’m off. Schweet.
eco2geek
@asiangrrlMN: What you said.
More sports headlines like this, please: “Tired Gay succumbs to Dix in 200 meters.”
asiangrrlMN
@Yutsano: Hi, hon. It’s all good these days, innit?
@eco2geek: Oh man. I’m surely going to hell for laughing like a maniac over that headline.
Yutsano
@asiangrrlMN: Yesh, yesh it is, especially since the overbooking involves meeting up with an old friend I haven’t seen in years plus dropping the big news on some other good friends. Oh and taking care of a few other matters in the interim. Trying to decide what lunch will be versus dinner, if I eat Chinese or Thai at lunch then dinner is Italian or Greek, if Greek or Italian (birthday girl get the choice) for lunch then dinner will be either Indian or Thai. Or whatever, I’m pretty much open.
@eco2geek: There was a safety who used to play for Florida State named Dakota Fagg. I shit you not. I was actually pretty damn proud of him for not shirking from his surname just because it was controversial.
asiangrrlMN
@Yutsano: Oh, that’s such a HARD choice to make! I really feel bad for you that you have to make such difficult culinary decisions. As an aside, I read, “As the birthday girl, I get the choice”, which led me to wonder if there was something you weren’t telling me.
fucen tarmal
@Joel:
my 322 am opinion is, if baseball was worth watching, and was holding up the national interest like it did even a few years ago, this wouldn’t have been “programming” on espn. that said, its a douchey story all around, and so 2007. i mean 10% unemployment and people are supposed to give a fuck which organization pays some guy who already needs nothing 25 mil a year? low key it and at least try not to offend people….
fucen tarmal
@asiangrrlMN:
i aim to please. and if i can’t do that i just try and get it some where close.
asiangrrlMN
@fucen tarmal: Aim a little further left, please. Thx.
eco2geek
@Yutsano: Damn. One would guess that with a name like that he learned how to fight back.
Mark S.
@fucen tarmal:
The cherry on top for me was doing this at some Boys and Girls Club. It was really all about the children.
(And yes he was doing some basketball camp, but shit, I went to one of those camps when I was a kid. The NBA guy shows up the last day and hangs out for about an hour signing autographs.)
asiangrrlMN
@Mark S.: Adrian W. on Yahoo! wrote this. I thought it was very apt. Full disclosure: I have never liked LeBron James.
Steeplejack
@asiangrrlMN:
I was getting my rage on in the “This Will Be Bad” thread. Just recently unmoderated.
Worked a bullshit short shift (6:00-11:30 p.m.) and don’t have to go back until 3:00 p.m. tomorrow (Friday), so I am in full night-owl mode. Plus I took a mental-health day on Wednesday because the Man was downin’ me so bad. And, yeah, heat wave, too. Been a tough week.
asiangrrlMN
@Steeplejack: Oh, man. Your rant in that thread is righteous. Power to the muthafuckin’ people, man! And, sorry your week has sucked warm, stinking eggs. Any champers to ease the pain?
Steeplejack
@asiangrrlMN:
I have been sickened by all the bullshit hoopla around LeBron’s decision tonight, but I will always cut him some slack for this Nike ad back in the day. LeBron plays all the parts, and you’ve got Kool and the Gang’s “Summer Madness” for background. How can you not like that?
Yutsano
@eco2geek: I am fully recognizing the fact that I might have his first name incorrect. I’ll never forget the surname though, especially when the supposed “professional” sports announcers could barely stop giggling while saying it. It was about as hostile as I’ve ever gotten about something like that, and there are some serious douchebag announcers out there.
@Steeplejack: Bleah. Just…bleah.
@asiangrrlMN:
Is that some new-fangled drug you kids are smoking these days?
Ailuridae
@asiangrrlMN:
Not sure if i qualify but I am here ….
Steeplejack
@asiangrrlMN:
No champers tonight. Trying to keep it down to special occasions and medicinal purposes. Tonight just a little Mount Gay rum and quinine water (tonic) to keep the malaria at bay.
@Yutsano:
Bleah? Wherefore bleah? Explique usted.
asiangrrlMN
@Steeplejack: Nope. Do not care. Never liked him. Most likely never will. Even if he did make some really cool commercials.
@Yutsano: Ha! I’m older than you are, child groom o’ mine. No, champers is champagne. Steepman has a taste for it.
@Ailuridae: You qualify! Anyone who visits around this time of night qualifies. How you be?
Yutsano
@Steeplejack: Bleah as in work trying to put you down man. Fight the power dude! Honestly though, good that you get at least something resembling downtime in there. Otherwise I’d have to get all mother hen-ish or something. I’m halfway there as it is, a good bud of mine who’s a Marine (not the Dawg dear) is sick as hell, so my maternal instincts are in overdrive. It’s my damn Jewish genes.
@asiangrrlMN: Duly noted, though I prefer prosecco. In fact, should I ever get married (snicker) there will be tons of prosecco flowing.
Steeplejack
@asiangrrlMN:
Offered as a palate-cleansing sorbet: Bob Marley, “Waiting in Vain.”
Steeplejack
@Yutsano:
How did your interview/test with the IRS go? Are you leaving the current company? (And, if so, doing it in a really inconvenient way for them, I hope.)
asiangrrlMN
@Yutsano: I prefer gin myself (yeah, I’m a hard liquor kinda gal). If I ever get married (pauses for long howls of laughter), I will be toasting with a G&T.
@Steeplejack: That is my all-time favorite Marley song. It truly soothes the savage beast within. Ah, MTV, back in the days when it actually showed videos. Good times.
Steeplejack
@Steeplejack:
My YouTube-fu is off tonight. Much better version of the Bob Marley video here.
Steeplejack
@asiangrrlMN:
Free-associating on the music tonight. “Summer Madness” made me think of “Waiting in Vain,” which for some reason led to “Angry Eyes.”
Yutsano
@Steeplejack: Ahem: let me dig this out of an e-mail I wrote to a good friend of mine (and wifey):
I got up at 4:30 AM, got dressed, hopped in the car (glad I chose to gas up the day before because I forgot my phone and my paperwork!) by 6, took the 3 1/2 hour drive to Seattle, finally managed to find the building (which turned out not to be as hard to find as I thought), found a place to park, and went in. After going through security (it IS a federal building after all!) I found the right floor and discovered I was late! Fortunately the person who arranged my interview anticipated that and agreed to cut me a little slack there. Then we went off to the assessment, it was similar to what I did on the computer with two major differences: all I had to work with was paper and there was a live assessor on the other end of the phone, so I had to do all the work! After totally blowing my practice call, I settled down and did a lot better on the second go round. Then came the actual interview. This was with one of the call managers and a lead person. I ACED it. Every question they had I answered with both knowledge and articulation. I even managed to show off a bit of my humor and cooking knowledge! Then the long haul back, then seven hours of work, and I am now officially tired.
That was test day. The results:
I’M A FED!!
I got a phone call Tuesday right before I arrived at work, my phone was set to vibrate so I couldn’t answer it, so I tried to call back at work but wasn’t able to until Wednesday morning. I left a voicemail for the agent, she called me right back, and I accepted the position at 9:15 AM! I’m so excited, and now I have to get busy, as I have a shit ton of things to arrange now before I start. Fortunately for me I get two months to get it all together! I’M EXCITED!!!!
As far as my resignation, it goes in first thing Monday morning to the head boss’s desk. And there will be no changing of my mind. In other words, WOOOOT!!
Steeplejack
@Yutsano:
Congratulations! So when do you start the new gig? And are you going to take off any time in between?
And does this involve geographical relocation?
Oops, sorry, must go pick up my guit-box and play along to the solo in “Angry Eyes.”
asiangrrlMN
@Steeplejack: I like the way you free-associate. I hadn’t heard either of the two other songs. For you, my favorite Kool & the Gang song.
@Yutsano: I am so proud of you, hon. And, I will count on you to get me released if I ever end up in the slammer.
Steeplejack
@asiangrrlMN:
Excellent song. Like that scratchy guitar.
Can’t find a good version of Jesse Colin Young’s “Ridgetop.” Damn it. Won’t link to the inferior ones.
How about “Sunlight”?
asiangrrlMN
@Steeplejack: Sunlight is not my cuppa. I found a version of Ridgetop, and while it may not be a good version, it’s still a tasty song.
Yutsano
@Steeplejack: My official start date is September 13th, which will give me around six weeks to relocate and get everything settled before I basically disappear for two months into training. Since I don’t know exactly where I will be living yet in the Seattle area (found a condo for rent I loved off Craigslist that I’m sure has been snagged up by now it was such an affordable gem) I can’t plan the logistics of the commute just yet. I know I will be utilizing public transport as much as possible (which will be fun since one of the perks of my job is I get a public transport pass) but I’ll figure all that out as it comes. Other than finding new docs and such, all I need is a good place to live and I’m about set.
I expected more activity while I was writing a lengthy e-mail to FH #1. Oh well.
Steeplejack
Okay, last association in the chain and I’m out. Three Dog Night, “Eli’s Comin’.”
And the original version from Laura Nyro. Both excellent.
I think I’m fadin’ away. Mañana.
Steeplejack
@asiangrrlMN:
I will keep looking for the original.
Steeplejack
@Steeplejack:
Okay, one more, prompted by the slow ending to Laura Nyro’s version of “Eli’s Comin’.”
James Brown, “King Heroin.” With the incomparable J.B.’s backing him up.
“This is a revolution of the mind.”
asiangrrlMN
Night all. I’m outie.
stuckinred
@asiangrrlMN: Dang
kommrade reproductive vigor
Neat! I believe they, like the Luna moth, are endangered. Don’t let Tunch eat it.
KCinDC
You’re following in the footsteps of John Hodgman:
Gary
@Ailuridae: Nothing wrong with a little stupid in the morning, as long as it isn’t tedious too, as in the comment you are referring too.
dan
My wife would refer to that as an “AAAAAaAaagh! AAAAAaaugh! Jessie, get your father! Dan, where the hell are you? AAAAAAAAGGHHHH!”
bcinaz
I’m pretty sure that is the end result of a giant green tomato plant eating caterpiller. Start checking your tomatos more closely for evidence. The caterpiller is about 3-4 inches long and really hard to see – just blends in with the greenery. I’ve never had a summer go by when these bugs don’t eventually show up.
Ash Can
@bcinaz: Those guys grow into sphinx moths, which are often mistaken for hummingbirds (yes, really). This guy here is definitely a polyphemus, which is something completely different.
catclub
@General Stuck:
I hope you have seen the film shown at the Montreal Insectarium of the founder. He was an accountant in town across the river from Montreal, but spent his tim in South America collecting specimens. Completely obsessed!
Best museum film ever.
And no, googling his name would be too much effort.
bcinaz
@Ash Can: Ah, looks very similar. John should probably check his tomatoes for hornworms anyway, I used to think they came from the nursery with the plant, they were so present every year.
Tony Alva
Um John, you DO live in West Virginia right? Have you been getting strange calls from Indrid Cold ?
trollhattan
@bcinaz:
This is where hornworms come from. As you’ll see, they’re difficult to eradicate.
http://godzillahaiku.tumblr.com/post/628880615/dariuswhiteplume-madame-i-am-sorry-your-egg
slag
See…this is why I hate the internet. I check in just to see what’s going on in the world, and now I’m all sucked in to wanting to know more about moths, Data.gov and the mosaic effect, and whoever this King Ghidorah guy is.
In short: Screw you, Internet, for constantly making me feel like a complete ignoramus! I’m going back to bed.
Poopyman
John, Mothman called. He wants his baby back.
licensed to kill time
John Cole, your alt text is pure gold. Have you deciphered the prophecies yet?
DougL
“5 to 6 inches wide”?! That’s huge.
Was it trying to carry Tunch off?
Old boring Fuddy Duddy
@asiangrrlMN:
I am thinking you all need to get a room. Or maybe a suite. With some extra water features and maybe a full set of web-cams. Because Grey scale ain’t doing justice to this thread.
Wordsmith
One day last week one of my cats came in dragging along a Monarch butterfly who was trying desperately to get away. Managed to get it; its wing was pretty torn up, but put up in one of the hanging baskets so it could rest and do whatever. It flew away later. I see a few flying back & forth but none seem to fly anywhere CLOSE to the ground. Must’ve learned THAT lesson & passed it along to fellow butterflies. Trying to build a cat-friendly butterfly spot in the yard.
grins
I know I’m late to the game, identifying it as a polyphemus. I wanted to pass along a link to “What’s That Bug?”, specifically to a newly emerged polyphemus I found.
http://www.whatsthatbug.com/2006/03/03/newly-emerged-polyphemus-moth/
Cynicor
I got one of them there polyphemus moths on my house a few years ago (5 inch wingspan), so I know what they are now because I went online and ID’d it. Photo of mine.
lurker phil
@Elie:
Thanks for the clarification, Elie. As a child, sixty years ago, I saw those often in Oklahoma City, and Luna moths, too. Even though I live in the sticks, still in Oklahoma, I haven’t seen one of either of these moths in fifteen years.
dp
As a number of posters correctly surmised, it is a Polyphemus moth – a member of the giant silk moth family (Saturniidae). The adults don’t feed, living only a few days in which they mate, lay eggs, and die. Eggs are laid singly or in small clumps of two or three on a variety of hardwood trees (oaks are favored in my neck of the woods). The caterpillars are freakin’ huge when mature (5+ inches and fat).