Gomez silk moth, Syssphinx gomezi, Saturniidae

Found in Mexico and Central America

Luna Moth - Actias luna

My dear friend who is like a brother to me came through once again with another cottage find: the beautiful and ephemeral Luna Moth! I wish that I could see one in person, but it seems that our schedules aren't aligned for now, especially with their small window of flight here in Ontario. Finding an adult specimen may be easier in North America's southern areas as more lucrative conditions allow more broods to be created before conditions become colder. Case in point, Ontario is most fortunate to have one brood of this Royal Moth during the year, seemingly ranging between June and July if prior Muskoka finds of this beauty are any indicator. Meanwhile, more southern areas within their range (the eastern half of North America specifically) can have up to 3 broods! Bugguide reports that their active months for those regions can range from March all the way to September! What a difference latitude can make, and this is just the effect for one prominent specie of Moth; other insects can follow similar trajectories. However, this increase in brood number has an odd effect on this particular insect.

While the first batch of new adult Moths take on the seafoam to minty green color that they are known for (as seen in these images), the subsequent generations born on the same year can take on a more yellow-green coloration. Whether this is related to diet, temperature/climate, their development timeline (the second and third summer broods do not overwinter) or all of the above is uncertain to me. I lean more towards the lattermost suggestion as the strongest explanation, I'm not above ruling out the other possibilities. As for today's cottage find, she has the distinctly vibrant green coloration that these Lepidopterans are known for. She was seemingly resting and waiting on the cottage's handrails for the first male to find her. Although we cannot see her swollen abdomen, we can tell this individual is a female by her thinner, less plumose (feathered) antennae. Luckily for her, the males' denser antennae will pick up the pheromones she emits and will fly toward her with tremendous haste to seek her. Time may be short, but the female Luna Moth can conserve her energy reserves by keeping as still as possible and remaining grounded (unless necessary). After mating, our green beauty here will need all her strength to scout a suitable location for her eggs and safely lay them. She won't have to be picky however, as many plants and tree are suitable hosts for her soon-to-be Caterpillars.

okay so here’s ANOTHER art and it’s Roman AGAIN because i like the attention art of other characters gets me,,, anyway

here’s a Mothman. A moth-ro-man, if you will.

im not very good at drawing moth wings, but here’s a regal moth/royal walnut moth for y’all.

this kinda started bc i was in an rp, where Roman (my character) and Janus were having a conversation about if each side were a bug, what bug would they be, and Roman said Virgil would be a moth so he could be Mothman.

Later, out of character, we were talking about what every character’s animal form would be, and we were talking about how Janus is a snake, and saying Virgil’s form could be a cat, when I jokingly suggested that maybe Roman was the real Mothman. Then I accidentally got attached to it, as I often do, and now we’re here.

The wings were supposed to be able to look like a cape when closed, but I uh, made em a bit too big