#Argema mittrei

[zegalba]

Argema mittrei wings (comet moth)

[moths-daily]

Moth Of The Day #67

Comet Moth / Madagascan Moon Moth

Argema mittrei

From the saturniidae family. They have a wingspan of 20cm and a tail span of 15 cm. They inhabit the deepest part of the Madagascan rainforest, they are becoming endangered due to their habitat loss. 

[heartnosekid]

a comet moth (argema mittrei) & an atlas moth (attacus atlas) | source

[snototter]

A comet moth (Argema mittrei) in Andasibe, Madagascar

by Andy Wilson

[libraryofmoths]

Moth of the Week

Comet Moth

Argema mittrei

TW: Trypophobia for pictures

The comet moth or the Madagascan moon moth was first described in 1847 by Félix Édouard Guérin-Méneville. This moth is a part of the Saturniidae family and is one of the largest silk moths. This species receives its genus name Argema, meaning 'speckled eye' in Greek, from the large eyespots on its forewings and hindwings. Additionally, the name comet moth comes from their long hindwing tails.

Description The comet moth has large yellow wings with magenta patterns by the head, at the tips and outer margin of the forewings, the top and bottom of the hindwings, and the stem of the hindwing tails. Furthermore, the top edge of the forewings, outer edge of the hindwings, and both sides of the tail are outlined in black. Each of the hindwings and the forewings have large magenta and orange eyespots also outlined in black. The final touch on the wings are white accents by the head and in the eyespots. The body of the comet moth is yellow or a yellow-orange with the top of the legs matching then fading to black. They also have orange antennae.

Females have more rounded wings and larger bodies for egg laying

Average male wingspan: 20 cm (≈7.9 in)

Average male tail span of 15 cm (≈5.9 in)

The males have a longer, more feathery antennas than the females to pick up mating pheromones

Males have longer, thinner tails while females have shorter, thicker ones

Diet and Habitat This moth’s diet and host plants include the smoke tree, the marula tree, the Brazilian peppertree, and the cider gum tree. Most sources say adult moths do not feed because of their inability to use their shrunken mouths. Comet moths are native to Madagascar and nowhere else in the world. Their natural habitat are the Madagascan rainforests. However, they can and have been bred in captivity. Today due to habitat loss, their range is limited to the rainforests located south and east of Madagascar’s capital.

Mating Female moths release and pheromone to attract male mates, who fly to find them. After mating, the females lay 120 to 170 eggs on the host plants that will hatch into caterpillars in 10 to 20 days.

Predators Chameleons, geckos, bats, and birds prey on comet moths. To combat this, the comet moth uses its colors to camouflage itself. Additionally, it uses its long tails to mess with a bat’s echolocation and cause it to attack the tails instead of the moth’s vulnerable body. Furthermore, this species has the ability to use ultrasound absorption so the bat’s echo will come back fainter, and the moth is harder to “see.”Finally, the wing’s eyespots are used to fool predators into thinking the comet moth is a more dangerous animal. The largest current threat to comet moths are humans, and this moth is now endangered sure to habitat loss.

Fun Fact This moth used to be on the 1000 Malagasy ariary banknote.

(Source: Wikipedia, AZ Animals, Natural History Museum UK, The Company of Biologists, Moth Identification)

[saturniidaedyke]

got to see a ton of comet/madagascan moon moths at the insectarium the other day :] they were all really beautiful !!

[herpsandbirds]

Comet Moth aka Madagascan Moon Moth (Argema mittrei), male, family Saturniidae, endemic to Madagascar

photograph by Alan Chin Lee

[peach-moths]

give us the moth list bestie i know you wanna talk about it

THE MOTH LIST!!!!!

OK OK OK THIS LIST IS BASED LESS ON PERSONALITY AND MORE ON AESTHETICS LETS BEGIN

RAPH: Atlas Moth (Attacus atlas)

LEO: Scylla Firetip (Elbella scylla)

DONNIE: White-lined sphinx moth (Hyles lineata)

MIKEY: Comet moth/Madagascan moon moth (Argema mittrei)

BONUS CONTENT

APRIL: Madagascan sunset moth (Chrysiridia rhipheus)

SPLINTER: Isabella tiger moth aka wooly bear moth (Pyrrharctia isabella)

CASEY JONES: Glover's silkmoth (Hyalophora gloveri)

CASEY JR: Cabbage tree emperor moth (Bunaea alcinoe)

[mutant-distraction]

The Comet Moth ( Argema mittrei) or Madagascan moon moth, Native to the rain forests of Madagascar.

📷 Brian Gratwicke on Flickr

[mollyvega]

The Madagascar Comet moth (Argema mittrei). One of the most striking moth species

[ask-papa-primo]

I do love moths what kinds did you get??

Argema mittrei, smerinthus jamaicensis and daphnis nerii.

[ex0skeletal-undead]

Hello! I want to draw a moth oc in the style of cuphead and was wandering if you have any moths to recommend me? A white one and one of your own color choice would be good!

BOY DO I. May I suggest the white plume moth, Pterophorus pentadactyla, because they are tiny and beautiful and look like fairies. If you don't want it to be ALL white, I'm a big fan of the sagebrush sheep moth, Hemileuca hera. Also love love love the white witch, Thysania agrippina, which has the largest wingspan of any moth in the world, although they are more sorta light beige and brown than white.

If I were gonna choose a moth to base an OC around personally I might go with the princely tiger moth, Chrysocale principalis, which has some wild colors. Or maybe the Chinese moon moth, Actias dubernardi, which is so pretty it looks fake, or possibly the comet moth, Argema mittrei. Or maybe the oleander hawkmoth, Daphnis neri, which has beautiful shades of green. Wallich’s owl moth, Brahmaea wallichii, has some really cool patterns you could work with. If you wanted to get wild and base it on a caterpillar instead of an adult moth, I would recommend Citheronia phoronea, which looks like a weird spiny goth.

If none of these do it for you, I’d check out photos on inat of lepidopterans here. You can filter by family if you’re particularly into a certain type of moth :)

[fantuline]

I really like moths

Argema mittrei-Coment moth

[doggirlviscera]

comet moth!!! (Argema mittrei)

MOTH

[botanischer-garten-kiel]

Kometenfalter • Argema mittrei • mit Kokon

📷 Susanne Petersen

[bugsandnaturethings]

Comet moth (Argema mittrei) I traced for a tattoo idea. I think it would be a great chest piece