fuck yeah, moths!

This is a moth I found inside my boyfriend's kettle (I think it fell in during the night). But still found it looking so perfect and beautiful, despite its unsuccessful swimming lesson.

Original Post: http://my-shiny-veneer.tumblr.com/post/56254739201/just-found-this-moth-in-a-kettle-thats-gross-but

flikkerlicht submitted:

Hello, I've been trying to identify this moth but I've never came to be sure. It has distinctive white/black marks. The wings are more gray/brown than in the photo. The red spot seems to be a bald spot because my friend caught a different moth and it had the same kind of bald spot. I live in europe. 

Thanks for your help!

i am pretty dang sure that neither of those pictures was taken by you. in fact, one of them is a low-res version of a picture from wikipedia, which by the way is there under a CC BY-SA licence, and that means i am not allowed to repost it without attributing the author. i'm sure it must have taken a lot of effort to slap your website's url on the bottom of each picture, but the photos are still not yours. what you're doing is basically using others' work in a way that violates its licence to promote your website, and i have half a mind to actually put its url in this post so that people who care about crediting photographers know NOT to visit it.

to everyone else:

the submissions are primarily a way of sharing moth pictures taken by you or your friends/family, plus other moth-related content (if you record a moth-themed concept album, i will absolutely post a link to your bandcamp, and also love you forever). i love receiving submissions! all i ask is that you briefly specify the source; a short "photo by me" or "taken by my friend who's made a vow never to touch a computer" will easily suffice. i'd just hate to accidentally post someone's work without crediting the author.

on that note — thank you to all submitters (who haven't lifted their submissions off goddamn wikipedia)! seriously, it's not just empty words when i say i love receiving them. y'all are super rad and you have no idea how much i appreciate you.

A large and lovely Pandora Sphinx Moth found in New Kent, VA ( USA )

I believe it's a member of the Sphingidae family. They sound like small helicopters if they fly by your ear; it's a little startling.

Photo by me.

logenoir submitted:

Hi! We seen this moth in the middle of night while high on lsd, i was trying to identify it myself but then i though i could send it to you since it is a nice photo as well!

Cheers from Czech republic!

kerfufflecat submitted:

My mom found this at her job (in southeastern VA), but neither of us are sure of the species. :c The photo is from her facebook.

amentalwindow submitted:

Snapped a pic of this beauty outside on my porch. Could you perhaps help me find out the species?

Moth Tattoo done by Sean Ambrose at Arrows and Embers Custom Tattooing

Could you tell me who this little guy is? :~)

#suicide warning

i imagine the best known species that’s white-ish is the domesticated silk moth (bombyx mori); however, it doesn’t naturally occur outside of east asia. female muslin moths (diaphora mendica) are mostly white and very beautiful, but also not found in the usa. for american moths, i recommend looking into the genus spilosoma and the related species hyphantria cunea. and here’s some geometer moth species you could check out: lomographa vestaliata, eugonobapta nivosaria (a gorgeous, pure white species), ennomos subsignaria, sericoptera virginaria, campaea perlata (greenish but mostly very pale) and tetracis cachexiata. unfortunately, i couldn't find any white moths with blue markings.

for further search, ukmoths.org.uk allows you to search by colour and markings, although the system is still experimental, and of course the site’s focus is on british moths; and bugguide.net is always a big help.