#Giant Silkworm Moth

[biojac]

Nine images of moths local to Peterborough, ON.

Nikon D750

Nikkor 60mm f2.8

[luckybatbones]

saw the most beautiful moth i've seen in person the other day. definitely one of the coolest experiences of my life.

io moth Automeris io

sarasota, florida

january 2023

[eiders]

the football field lights are perfect for attracting moths !!

[paperdoves]

leucanella viridescens caterpillar

[scrumpyfan43]

Polyphemus cocoon I ran across on a walk

[brutus-the-skulldog]

Saturniidae Moth caterpillar

(giant silkworm moth)

LOOK AT EM PLS AHHHHH

This is the Saturniidae Moth caterpillar!! When I first showed it to my friends I found out (from my source) that it can also be called a shaman caterpillar! This little guy lives in the tropics and molts four times before being ready to pupate! Its species within the family Saturniidae and subfamily Saturnii*nae* are symbolism for the Roman God Saturn! While most Saturniidae moths aren't dangerous, a few within the genus Lonomia possess deadly venom.

[cloudyswritings]

Hollow knight bugs & real world species

basically this is just a place for me to dump my thoughts about the species of Hollow knight characters. Let’s start with the easy ones.

Divine & Leg Eater: These two are very obviously a termite king and queen, Divine literally can’t be anything else.

Ogrim: The biggest shitter, dung beetle obvi.

Cornifer & Iselda: Weevils, aka the best bugs. Look at their proboscis’

Mantis lords: Mantids, probably based mostly on the Chinese Giant Mantis specifically.

Flukes: They’re just flukes, disgusting.

Unn: Objectively the best goddess, big slug

Quirrel: So it seems likely to me that Quirrel is a isopod of some sort, most likely an armidilidium species, I think it’s something about his hunched/slightly curled posture and body segmentation.

Radiance: A silkmoth, her wings look to be in proportion with the species and everything else screams silkmoth.

Grimm: it’s a common theory, but his resemblance to a vampire moth is striking.

Mask maker: Bro is very obviously a whip scorpion, the arms are what really seals the deal, but living among other predators with ease(ie deepnest) and twitchy motions are staples of whip scorpions irl.

Cloth: a Cicada nymph, hence her whole burrowing thing and the sounds she makes. Plus this is actually confirmed.

God Tamer: She’s an ant, but not a queen. She’s probably a worker who got separated from the colony. Her antenna are fairly distinctive in Hollownest and are very ant like. Plus she tames other species, something ant colonies effectively do by treating aphids like livestock

Ze’mer: So there’s two equally good guesses for what she is. The first is that she’s a silverfish, this would support her outsiderness given silverfish are a truly strange and primitive branch of bugs. The second possibility is that she’s a glow worm beetle, the adult stage of glow worm. This is also super plausible because of the antenna those beetles have lining up nicely with her fluff and drooping antenna. I think either one is a great interpretation.

now the harder ones.

Sly: So his size is notable, as is his eyes being very visibly compound, that combined with his mobility in the air and the sort of buzzing yoda type sound his voice has makes me think he’s a fly of some sort. Plus it rhymes.

Herrah: she’s most likely a horned baboon tarantula, the colors and size line up with what we see compared to the weavers and devout. Plus the horn on those tarantula line up shapewise fairly well with hers.

Pale King: This man to me has two different possibilities, either he’s a leg less lizard of some sort or more probably he’s some sort of really fucked up crustacean. We know Wyrms molt so that almost certainly rules out option one. My thought is that Wyrms have the same issues lobsters run into where they get bigger with every molt, so their exoskeleton gets heavier, thicker, and harder to break out of. Eventually they die, crushed under their own weight and unable to molt(this is when Wyrms generally abandon their larger form to make kingdoms). Verdict: something terribly cursed.

Bardoon: Bardoon, Bardoon, Bardoon, why must you be so difficult? So at first Bardoon really looks like a silkworm, the color is right, even the face of the two look super similar. But Bardoon is demonstrably longer than a silkworm has any right being, and his little nub/tail that you can hit distinctly resembles the “horn” all hornworms have. Despite that I’m nominally going to say he’s a silkworm until I find better evidence. Verdict: Concerning implications.

Gubs and Grubfather: Parasitic wasps maybe? The charm is called Grubberflys elegy, but their behavior mimics the way some wasps lay eggs inside of hosts so their young can eat their way out. Verdict: wasp things probably.

Tiso: So Tiso and Sharpe both look remarkably similar and from the very, very limited amount we’ve seen from both move similarly. In that vein they both look vaguely like assassin bugs, specifically assassin bug nymphs.

Vessels: Something even more fucked than the Pale King, they’re like mostly plant though I think? Like their masks look like his but are actually made of the White ladys bark/wood and grow constantly, their horns look a lot like her branches too. I imagine that their bodies have the same crustacean exoskeleton thing going on their dad has, so they’re probably incorporating heavy metals into their chitin. In all likelihood their mother being a plant and the light absorption the void displays means they’re photosynthetic in some way, it might explain how they grow too. The dangling bottom parts of the shades also look sorta like roots honestly, this also meshes well with how thorns of agony appears as void tendrils when activated. Verdict: Who tf knows, they’re definitely photosynthetic though.

The Shade Lord: So obviously this big chonker is literally just void, but their form distinctly resembles a dragonfly nymph, with four main arms/legs being used, and a distinctly predatory head shape. Plus we don’t see their bottom half, so I imagine it’s either a mass of roots like their mother, or something vaguely wormy. Verdict: Dragonfly thing

Isma: She is super fucking weird tbh, her head is shaped a lot like Vespas. Obviously however she’s some sort of pant being given the way we find her. My theory here is that she’s actually some other sort of bee, there’s a ton of bees that are solitary species. Based on that I’d say she was a bee— probably a white-banded digger bee— who became a devotee or worshipper of Unn. This may explain how the Pale king was allowed to build in green path. Unn let him build in her land and in return she got a loyal and powerful spy/pair of eyes in the Pale court.

[crevicedwelling]

Im considering getting some moth friends. Any tips on what enclosures I should use, what species to pick for beginners, what foods to feed them, etc?

Thanks in advance,

-Ash!

in general, most moths make pretty poor pets, especially as adults. keeping moths = rearing larvae, essentially, and this juvenile stage is probably the longest part of most species’ lifespans. if you want moths just for the adults, very few species I consider to be ethical to keep will be of interest to you, and I think the best way to enjoy moths is to find them in the wild and leave them there.

adult moths tend to not do well in captivity because they are hard to feed (where to put all the flowers?) and will beat themselves to death on most containers because they don’t understand “wall.” most moths are not suitable for captivity for these reasons and when entomologists/hobbyists rear a random larva they find, it’s usually intended to be killed as a scientific specimen once matured or released after a photo. this means there’s only a handful of moths that can reliably be bred in captivity (captive breeding being one of the most important requirements for ethical insectkeeping).

one of the main groups of these are saturniids (giant silkmoths), who do not feed as adults and are quite large and showy at all life stages. when I was 10 or so I kept saturniids including luna moths and Polyphemus moths, and raised the larvae in cat litter tubs I found on the street with mesh over the tops, feeding them daily with fresh branches from neighborhood trees (my dad was very helpful in cutting down the foodplants). after pupation I kept the pupae in a large tub with lots of stick and egg carton perches that I occasionally misted for moisture. since they were from local stock I would release the adults at night; saturniids are definitely less active than, say, a hawkmoth or a noctuid that needs to feed, but still often get quite beat up just from living in mesh containers and I didn’t like seeing that.

native giant silkmoths may not be legal to keep in all areas, and exotic species are tightly controlled in the US where I live. it can be difficult to obtain eggs here, even of native species. never release any moth that isn’t native, and the most responsible thing to do is not release any at all due to captive population densities being a potential source of disease.

another option is domesticated silkworms (Bombyx mori), which I’d say are probably the most ethical moth to keep since they are adapted to life in human care. they’re flightless and also do not feed as adults; larvae eat mulberry leaves but can also be maintained on a formulated mush that can be purchased (not a fan of the price in the US!). many reptile sites or stores stock them as reptile food, probably the best way to get them in manageable quantities. Galleria waxworms can be obtained in a similar way, but require a honey/syrup/bran diet that’s highly unpleasant to produce.

some hawkmoths can be kept as pets, such as Manduca sexta hornworms also used as reptile feeders, although they are highly active and feeding them can be a challenge. in Europe the death’s head hawkmoths (Acherontia) can be obtained sometimes, and adults eat honey but again can be difficult to get eating. both species prefer tomato and other nightshades as larval food.

as said before, non-saturniid and non-B. mori moths are best found as larvae, maintained on what food you found them eating, then released as adults. if you are as crazy as me and willing to risk all your foodstuffs becoming infested, some grain pest moths like Plodia and Pyralis are easy to maintain on bran, nuts, and oats, but this is probably very far from “pet moths” you’re looking for.

[outeremissary]

For @archduke-enver-gortash- thank you again for the patience, Romeo, and for letting me play with Zeke! This was originally for OC Kiss Week, but ultimately was only finished this weekend. I had a ton of fun working on this. I got lost in about four different kinds of nature sauce just planning it, as you can see...

Extra doodles and process stuff below the cut <3

The height difference kept cracking me up. Some silly doodles in honor of all the times I thought "this can't be a comfortable pose" while sketching.

Initial concept work. On god the novel cover comment is said with full affection for the design of childhood favorite talking animal books. The pencil in the first one is also being used to censor "Bhaal"- I'm too lazy to take a new pic, that's from showing a friend who hadn't finished the game.

Sketch -> lines -> most of color

Pre-fill version of the final thing. The white has its own charm, and it was hard to commit to one or the other.

Despite what the initial list had, here are the actual final wreath components. As intended, at least.

Zeke: queen of the night flowers, ferns, moon vine, short-tailed shrew bones (I just really really like venomous shrews), cockroaches, foxglove

Kas: yarrow, wheat (and grass), barn swallow wing, acanthus (of the unrealistic illumination kind), California poppy, aconite/wolfsbane, giant silkworm moth

[lawful-evil-novelist]

I'm down for character designs. I expect symbolism (possibly pictures if at all possible)

Tell me which moth/moths u chose and why. Please n thank u

Oh I have so much symbolism, but the moths.

So when deciding on a moth species to have Drury spliced with, originally I wanted to pick a moth from the family Bombycidae, also called silkworm moths, but after a lot of consideration I leaned a bit closer to Saturniidae, particularly the subfamily Saturniinae, also called giant silkmoths.

Drury's always been pretty heavily associated with giant silkmoths in my work. My choice for his birthplace and heritage are directly linked to one of the largest moths on Earth: the Atlas Moth.

That said, when deciding the moth species in specific, I wanted to pick a species first documented by one of his namesakes, either Dru Drury or Francis Walker. As a result, I settled on Samia cynthia, also called the ailanthus silkmoth, which was documented by Dru Drury in 1773.

a lot of his tattoos include moths too, including moon moths, imperial moths, and of course giant silkmoths.

[mwolf0epsilon]

Of course I wasn't just gonna leave it at assigning my clones some moths for @waterlily707 's Moth AU. I wanted to draw some of them as well, and Pox has been neglected a lot in favour of my other characters so he's the first to get turned into a bug man.

He is a Lonomia obliqua (aka giant silkworm moth), a highly venomous caterpillar that's been responsible for many human deaths.

Sadly (due to Sulu Ra's meddling), he can't actually pupate into a moth clone so, rather than having his deadly strain of pox, he's dealing with the fact he's going to stay venomous for the rest of his life... On the plus side he looks much healthier?

[iwanttopi]

🌋Pokemon Sunrise⛄️

welcome to the Dantai region!

38 pokemon so far 135 planned

1🌱🚧

2🌱🚧

3🌱💀kojiki vol2 🚧

4🔥🚧

5🔥🚧

6🔥⚙️kojiki vol1🚧

7💧🚧

8💧🚧

9💧👁️‍🗨️kojiki vol3🚧

10⚪️🚧

11⚪️💀a bat of some sort :/🚧

12🪽japanese bush warbler🚧

13🪽eurasian coot🚧

14🪽japanese green pheasant 🚧

15🪲silkworm mulberry🚧

16🪲🚧

17🪲🌸japanese moon moth alien 🚧flatwoods

18👁️‍🗨️🚧

19👁️‍🗨️wolf okuri inu🚧

20⚡️🔥 eurasian stoat🚧

21⚡️❄️eurasian stoat🚧

22❄️🚧

23❄️ref #14🚧

24🌸Dumponi

25🌸Merriponi

26🌸💀Hobbelponi

27🌱🚧

28🌱⚙️🚧

29🌱⚙️ref #1🚧

30🥊🌸🚧

31🥊🌸wanko soba waitress🚧

32💧🚧

33💧⚡️ref #2🚧

34🌱🔮Aiziga

35🌱🔮Aiztover

36🌱🔮Aizcomeco

37⚪️Idoll

38⚪️🥊Popitavia

39🪽🏔️Oyalon

40🪲🚧

41🪲🚧

42🪲shrimp, scewer, cocktail🚧

43🔥🚧

44🔥fireworks summer festival boat burn🚧

45💧Nanbumi

46💧👁️‍🗨️Nanyobo

47🧪🚧

48🧪🚧

49🧪❄️wine🚧

50🏔️⚙️🚧

51🏔️⚙️ref #3🚧lizard?

52🐉ref #16🚧

53🪽🚧

54🪽👁️‍🗨️hinai chicken🚧

55🥊Chisoma

56🥊Bakiso

57👁️‍🗨️⚪️🚧

58👁️‍🗨️⚪️calico okesa neko🚧

59🏔️kibyoshi comic book🚧

60🔮⚡️Chiketic

61🔮⚡️Quantyx

62🪲⚪️Potifull

63⚙️🚧

64⚙️robot servant🚧

65🌱🧪skunk cabbage🚧

66⚡️🚧

67⚡️🚧

68⚡️jellyfish 🚧

69⚪️Croachi

70❄️🪽🚧

71❄️🪽downburst octopus fujiwhara effect🚧

72🧪⚡️ref #4🚧

73🏔️🧪🚧

74🏔️🧪pliocene whale🚧

75🏔️🐉🚧

76🏔️🐉devonian giant club moss🚧

77🌱💧Kapyuzu

78🌱💧Kapykanro

79💀ref #15🚧

80⚙️Bispiral

81❄️🔥igloo cow🚧

82🥊🚧

83🥊🪽ref #12🚧

84🔮🚧

85🔮ref #11🚧

86💀🚧

87💀ref #8🚧

88🐉🌎🚧

89🐉🌎ref #7🚧

90🌱❄️ref #6🚧

91⚙️💀🚧

92⚙️💀ref #5🚧

93🌸🌎🚧

94🌸🌎ref #16🚧

95🐉🪲🚧

96🐉🪲🚧

97🐉🪲shokera/okiku-mushi pseudo🚧

98🌎🚧

99🌎🚧

100🌎akita inu other pseudo🚧

101⚪️👁️‍🗨️🚧

102⚪️👁️‍🗨️greedent🚧

103🏔️⚪️🚧

104🏔️⚪️ref #9🚧

105🌸💧🚧

106🌸💧torkonsen ref #10🚧

107🧪🚧

108🧪🪽🚧

109🧪🪽ref #13🚧

110🔥💀Ralts

111🔥💀Kirlia

112🔥💀Gardevoir

113🔥🔮Gallade

114⚡️⚙️keirin falinks🚧

115🌸Buneary

116🌸Chipangora

117🔥🌎Snover

118🔥🌎Abomasnow

119🐉Wajeon

120❄️💀froslass evo🚧

121❄️👁️‍🗨️glalie evo🚧

122🌸Whipcraft

123🔮chimecho evolution🚧

124❄️🔮Hagrudge

125🌱🥊Cherrisha

126💧🐉Seaity

127🥊🪽Carpedee’m

128💧🌎Mutonsu

129🔮👁️‍🗨️Gothiacho

130🪲🥊ledian evo🚧

131💀Shiboji

132🔮Wimora

133🌱🪽Nutcero

134🔥👁️‍🗨️(literally the devil?)🚧

135❄️🌸(??)tennyo 🚧

⚪️|||| 6 (0)⭐️

🌱||||/| 4 (0)⭐️

🔥||||/|| 3 (0)⭐️

💧||||/| 4 (0)⭐️

⚡️||| 7 (0)⭐️

🪽|| 8 (0)⭐️

❄️| 9 (0)⭐️

🏔️| 9 (0)⭐️

🌎||| 7 (0)⭐️

⚙️| 9 (0)⭐️

🪲| 9 (0)⭐️

🧪 10 (0)⭐️

🥊||||/|| 2 (0)⭐️

👁️‍🗨️|| 8 (0)⭐️

🔮||||/||| 2 (0)⭐️

💀|||| 6 (0)⭐️

🌸||||/|| 3 (0)⭐️

🐉|| 8 (0)⭐️

ideas:

1grass type rice samurai pokemon?🌱⚙️•••

2water electric hydropower saber tooth deer💧⚡️••

3mining pokemon (copper?)🏔️⚙️••

4nuclear power spider crab kanibozu🧪⚡️•

5steel type namahage⚙️💀••

6grass type pine tree🌱❄️•

7dragon rock hawk peregrine falcon🐉🌎••

8ghost type paper crane💀••

9rock type big face (nosepass RV?)🏔️⚪️••

10fairy type hot spring? torkal RV?🌸💧••

11psychic type red kappa minogame🔮••

12fighting type squid golden eagles seagull🥊🪽••

13poison type egg🧪🪽(togepi RV)•••

14snow monkey shojo❄️••

15asiatic black bear💀•

16dragon moray eel🐉•

17serow🌸🌎••

gym ideas:

Akita:⚙️

Aomori:🌱

Hirosaki:🐉

Morioka:💀

Yamagata:🏔️

Hanamaki:🌸

Tono:🔮

Hachinohe:🥊

fukushima 🧪 (not a gym)

[luckybatbones]

a male io moth Automeris io

sarasota, fl

march 2023

io moths are sexually dimorphic (meaning you can identify which are male and female) this one right here is bright yellow and has fuzzier antennae, which are the indicators of the male io moths.

this is a female io moth i saw in late january (in sarasota). she is a reddish-brown color and has thin antennae, which are indicators of the female io moth. most giant silkworm moths, the family saturniidae, males have fuzzier antennae than the females. however, io moths also have a color difference!!

[eiders]

first cecropia of the year!

[brightgnosis]

Luna Moths (Actias Luna) are members of the giant silkworm —or in adult phase, royal moth— family (Saturniidae) [… and feed on the …] foliage of native trees and shrubs; including Black Walnut (Juglans Nigra), American Beech (Fagus Grandifolia), Red Maple (Acer rubrum), Willow (Salix ssp), Sweetgum (Liquidambar Styraciflua), Sumac (Rhus), Black Cherry (Prunus Serotina), White Oak (Quercus Alba), Hickory (Carya), American chestnut (Castanea Dentata), as well as the leaves of other nut and fruit bearing shrubs, trees and shade trees.

From “Moonlight Flight in the Garden: How do I attract Luna Moths”; The Gardener's Eden (My Ko-Fi Here)

[thepringlesofblood]

what kinda moth is mothman tho

*deep, exhausted sigh* im trying to make a heroforge version of mothman in case i want him in a future campaign. also bc im in taz indrid cold hyperfixation lockdown atm. in my head hes just sort of a big black fluffy blob with two big red eyes, but that is not translating well to hf. i turn to the dedicated community of monsterfuckers and mothman enthusiasts on tumblr dot com - what are yall’s headcanons/real-life inspirations for mothman?

my only two main things i want to keep in mind are that hes a. mostly black (colors/patterns are welcome, just on a black background) and b. has big, fluffy wings. some moths it turns out have tiny ass wings and look like fucked up dragonflies and thats not the vibe we goin for - the fluffiness is essential. doesnt have to have red eyes, im gonna put red eyes onto whatever real life inspo i pick, in the time-honored tradition of good omens fans (myself included) slapping yellow slit-pupiled eyes onto whatever snake they think crowley looks like lol.

tl;dr do you have a real life moth that you think of when you think of mothman? cool. lmk.

below the cut i put some ones i looked at already but like i just googled ‘black moths’ im not in the lepidopteran community or nothin

Cinnabar - red stripes v pretty 9 spotted 8 spotted forester - nah, orange legs dont vibe Black rustic Giant silkworm moth Garden tiger moth White striped black moth (truth in advertising) Black witch moth -nah, looks more brown than black Large black moth Chimney sweeper

Jersey tiger moth

Io moth - only the female is dark “purplish red” (it looks black with red on the edges but maybe bad photo?) the male is yellow but hey maybe mothman trans

Red-shouldered ctenucha moth - cute and conjures images of indrid lookin like he got sunburned shoulders but i cant tell if its really dark blue or black and dark blue just doesnt go w the red eyes in my mothman vision

Polka-dot moth - coloring is dope, but not very fluffy, wings small and not big enough to wrap around a potential lover and shelter them from the world - we can’t take that away. it’s a popular fanfic trope for any wing-adjacent character for a reason and the reason is it’s good.

Geometrid moth - I like it bc the pattern looks like static…like void fish static? Diff universe ik but still. its more gray than black but maybe we can make an exception...