[NatureNS] another Luna Moth

Date: Fri, 29 Jun 2012 13:21:06 -0300
From: "Stephen R. Shaw" <srshaw@DAL.CA>
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I found a ~3-inch wingspan lime green moth with raindrops on its wings  
resting outside a lighted door on the Dalhousie campus a couple of  
nights ago, after the heavy rain.  I thought 'saturniid' and looked up  
this group on BugGuide next day but could not find a match.   
Fortunately I had taken a few photos of it and when I checked these,  
the eyespots etc gave an exact match for a luna moth, the pectinate  
antennae indicating a male.  Both tails on the hind wings were  
completely gone, presumably plucked off in a bird or cat attack, and  
accounting for the lack of an obvious initial match on BugGuide.

I had let it go again, placed on a nearby plant, and when I checked a  
bit later it had gone.  The loss of its tails obviously did not  
totally incapacitate its flight.  Perhaps like that of the peacock,  
the luna's tails are even an aerodynamic hindrance in flight?  Has  
anyone has ever looked at this in leps with tails, or more likely in  
New Guinea birds where some males have elaborate and apparently  
unwieldy tails and exotic mating displays?  Can these birds fly  
effectively, or don't they have to do much in such dense canopy?
Steve (Halifax)
  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Quoting Elizabeth Doull <edoull@ns.sympatico.ca>:
> There was a Luna Moth in Big Island yeserday (June 27, 2012).  I think it is
> a first there.
>
> Liz



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