The final close up of my Luna moth for Moth Awareness Week! When threatened, Luna moth caterpillars go into a sphinx position, make a clicking noise and regurgitate fluids with smells that disgust their predators. As an adult, Luna moths have no mouth so they use a different defensive tactic. When being pursued in the air by a predator such as a bat, the Luna Moth will spin making the long wingtips circle which is believed to confuse the bat’s echolocation. While on a walk near Wachusett Reservoir Dam, I found a beautiful Luna Moth in the grass. The pictures I took inspired the pose and left wing design of my Luna Moth. My sources for my Luna Moth facts:
http://entnemdept.ufl.edu/creatures/misc/moths/luna_moth.htm https://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/species/Actias-luna https://kids.nationalgeographic.com/animals/invertebrates/insects/luna-moth/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atOSro3_W7c https://6legs2many.wordpress.com/2012/03/30/so-i-got-some-luna-moth-eggs/
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I’m posting a close up earlier than usual in celebration of Moth Awareness Week!
Why are moths important? Probably not a fun fact for moths but moths as adults and caterpillars are a tasty treat for many animals including birds, bats, frogs, hedgehogs, toads, lizards, etc. Moths are pollinators with some species on the night shift and some on the day shift. The flowers moths help to pollinate usually are clustered together (which helps for landing), white or dull in color, opening late in the day/at night, and produce lots of nectar. Moths are indicator species. They are found in so many habitats and are numerous but, if there is a change in the environment, they are the one of the first species to die. Importance of moths http://www.mothscount.org/text/16/importance_of_moths.html https://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/pollinators/animals/moths.shtml http://nationalmothweek.org/ Happy Moth Awareness week! This is my Luna Moth.
There are an estimated 150,000 to 500,000 species of moths out in the world. Keeping track or even finding and counting all these moths is a seemingly impossible task to accomplish. This week people around the world can register to become citizen scientists who collect data and photograph moths in their area. They can send their data to one or more of the organizations found at this website: http://nationalmothweek.org/how-to-submit-data/ If you are interested in participating, this is their site: http://nationalmothweek.org/ |
Artist and Blogger
I'm just a doodling artist. My current style started in a lecture class at MCLA where I began doodling in my notebooks. Now I've started a new series focusing on animals. Archives
April 2021
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