#giant silkworm

[scrumpyfan43]

Polyphemus cocoon I ran across on a walk

[biojac]

Nine images of moths local to Peterborough, ON.

Nikon D750

Nikkor 60mm f2.8

[blujayonthewing]

unfortunately spiders are a pretty popular part of traditional gnomish cuisine

[ratcandy]

there are exactly SIX posts in the Berith tag INCLUDING the one I just posted cmon guys we can do better than that

[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 !!

[supersecretnerd]

I have yet to watch it, but I saw this image of a 1976 James and the Giant Peach film and I had to share.

[paperdoves]

leucanella viridescens caterpillar

[quitealotofsodapop]

Eating bugs.

I had to rewatch the episode to see that and yeah;

MK had a bug in his hair, and Wukong picked it out and ate ala monkey grooming instincts. Too big to be a louse, looks more like a silkworm in it's cocoon.

I bet he picked it up after getting slammed into the pavement - from personal experience no matter where you lie down in public, you *will* get a bug on you.

One of my fave hcs is MK's monkey instincts kicking in and he accidentally eats a spider before he realises. And promptly freaks out.

And because eating certain arthropods isn't considered as taboo in China (but still considered weird); MK's other family members have their own thoughts on the matter. Tang is 100% the parent who'd be like that one tumblr post about a guy eating spiders. Pigsy is with MK on the grossness of it.

Tang: "I don't see what the big deal is." Sandy: "Insects *are* a far more substainable source of protein than beef or fish." Pigsy, angry squeal: "Because its disgusting! You've no idea where it's been!" MK: "Thank you, Dadsy!" Tang: "MK, you ate fried silkworm grubs by the bucketful when you were little." MK, turning green with horror: "I THOUGHT THOSE WERE POPCORN SHRIMP!?" Pigsy: "That's what you were feeding my son when you took him to the night market!?" Tang, shrugs: "I'm a culinary explorer piggy. And if lil MK took a liking to my haul, who was I to deny him the boon?" Pigsy & MK, both at once: "BECAUSE IT WAS BUGS TANG!" Macaque, teasingly pokes head out of shadows: "Did I hear something about silkworms? I'm starving!" MK & Pigsy: *disgusted retching noises* Mei, the one who started the convo: *is busy recording all of this*

It gets so bad that MK will randomly ask other animal demons/celestials he comes across in his travels their thoughts on the matter. The answers are... less than encouraging.

MK: "Before we part ways, I have a big big personal question to ask you Mr Three Eyed God-sir." Erlang Shen, expecting a lore question: "Ok." MK: "Do you eat bugs?" Erlang Shen: "...define bug." MK: "wut." Erlang: "Because in the grand scheme of things, any creature that crawls with many legs can be called a bug. Crabs, prawns, and shrimp are in the same family as the common woodlouse." MK, despairing: "Nooo! Don't ruin shellfish for me!!!" Wukong: "MK, stop asking the gods if they eat bugs. They don't cook 'em good anyway." MK: *retching sound*

The poor monkey boy probably ignores these instincts for as long as possible, until one day MK takes a bite out of a giant bug monster and things quickly turn into Shaggy & Scooby vs the Cotton Candy Glob. Onlookers were horrified.

[talonabraxas]

Green Wood Dragon 🐉 Talon Abraxas Dragons represent nature’s forces in Buddhism

Dragons are directly associated with nature. Oceans, rivers and the heavens are often dragon deities in Buddhism. Since nature remains a vital part of Mahayana Buddhist spiritual paths, dragons have a pride of place as sovereign “elements of nature” — typically associated with the East, spring, and growth (Green Dragon), but also with fall and harvest (Brown or Yellow Dragon).

Prior to the Middle Ages, however, dragons in the West were mostly positive (or neutral) natural forces. Later, as non-nature oriented spirituality came to dominate Europe, Dragons began to be re-cast as “evil” or monsters. Saints, knights and heroes would “slay the dragon,” in part to symbolize man’s dominance over nature. In Eastern traditions, Dragons retain — to this day — their positive, nature-oriented personas.

“Unlike its demonic European counterpart, the Tibetan dragon is a creature of great creative power; a positive icon, representing the strong male yang principle of heaven, change, energy, wealth and creativity. Dragons are shape shifters, able to transform at will, from as small as the silkworm to a giant that fills the entire sky. Dragons are depicted in one of two colors, green or brown. The green, or azure dragon of Buddhism ascends into the sky at the spring equinox; it represents the light’s increasing power in springtime and the easterly direction of the sunrise. The brown dragon is the autumn equinox, when it descends into a deep pool, encasing itself in mud until the next spring, but its spirit is still with the practitioner bringing wealth and health. The pearls, or jewels clutched in the claws of the dragon represent wisdom and health. The dragon can control the weather by squeezing the jewels to produce dew, rain or even downpours when clutched tightly. The dragon is the vehicle of Vairochana, the white Buddha of the center or the east.”

[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.

[cibeeorsomeshit]

Day Seven: Sun Moon Stars/Magic (Ao3)

Your sort-of boyfriend was going to do his full moon magic shit and he didn’t sound very enthusiastic about it. So you said you would be there to take care of him when he was done. And so you did.

There was a craze in Stolas’ eyes he wasn’t used to during the first time he was allowed — maybe more precisely, allowed himself — to see what Stolas actually needed the book on the full moon for. Blitzø thought it would be like Stolas’ usual works, looking through the giant telescope, mumbling to himself and taking notes. Grinding herbs into paste and straining them through oil, putting this one in glass tubes and that one in brass jars or another one in cast iron pots, before sending them off to different royals for who knew what. Blitzø joked about Stolas being a witch, and Stolas gleefully conjured an accurate witch hat and a not so accurate slutty witch outfit. That was fun and all, but seeing Stolas during his full moon duty made it extremely clear how instead of the witch, Stolas was the kind of demon that witches worshiped for. 

Blitzø never stayed past the set up stage. He never had reasons to. The whole thing took hours at an unholy time and Blitzø wasn’t about to drive his ass home himself when he was dead tired. Now, though, he could slip into Stolas’ bed without feeling like he was a discarded dildo, he could stay as long as he wanted. 

Stolas was hesitant, and told Blitzø not to push himself, please don’t feel like he needed to stay.

“I won’t disturb your weird ritual, don’t worry.” Blitzø curled up on the small (for Goeita’s standard) settee up against the cold stonewall of the astronomy tower. Stolas stood under the oculus that saw the night sky, waiting for the moon to reach the top. 

Stolas raised an eyebrow. “I didn’t think you would.”

“So what’s the deal?”

“I just think you might be more comfortable in our bed, that’s all.”

Our bed. It was a wonder Blitzø didn’t die on the spot with how hard his heart jumped at that. It had been three weeks since it became their bed. Just like the balcony was their spot, and Silkworm was their horse.

“Whatever, I want to be here,” Blitzø said. “I said I was gonna take you back to bed after you're done so I’m gonna.”

Stolas did not mention how rough Blitzø’s voice sounded, but he did walk over to kiss Blitzø’s horns, and then his lips, because they couldn't help it.

“It’s almost time.” Stolas said when they parted. No shit, Blitzø didn’t say, the tinge of mania in Stolas’ eyes and the red glow to his talons said it all. 

“Go do your thing.” Blitzø waved him away like someone would a child refusing school. Stolas seemed to find it amusing, and Blitzø quickly realized why he was gently warned he could leave if he wanted to.

The chalk-written runes and sigils beneath Stolas glowed from the moonlight shining in through the oculus. The grimoire unraveled itself, pages split from the spin with sickening tearing noise, rearranging themselves around Stolas as though he was the eye in a storm. 

Weird, but who was weirded out by these shits anymore? Certainly not Blitzø. No, what made him realize he might be out of his element was when he had to check if his head was still attached to his body, then also checking if his hands were still attached to his arms, because he felt like he was coming apart at the seams too, and he was seeing Stolas from everywhere, the front, the back the sides. A droning silence enveloped the tower. A pulsating void that messed with Blitzø’s brain in the way he would never admit to Stolas later that yeah, he probably should have just fucking gone to bed.

“Satan’s rotting anus,” Blitzø said out loud and yet somehow no noise hit the air even though he could feel his throat muscles move. He burrowed underneath the settee cushions and thought really hard  about the fat joint he was going to need after all of this.

He didn’t know how long it lasted, but he did know the exact moment it ended. Sounds that normally Blitzø never registered (the faint buzzing of city lights, airflow going in and out of gaps in the wall, his own breathing) was all at once alarmingly present. But there was only one sound he cared about: the clicks of talons finally resting on the stone floor, and the slump of a hollow-boned body. 

Blitzø disentangled himself from the cushions and was at Stolas’ side in a second. The whole reason Blitzø insisted on staying was because of this. Because weeks ago Stolas made a throwaway remark about how “dreadful” he always felt after the ritual. “Dreadful” was Stolas-speak for “fucking shit out of whack,” so sue him if Blitzø was feeling too tenderhearted after sleeping without nightmares for weeks straight, and just couldn’t stand the thought of Stolas alone and miserable. 

And Stolas did look miserable, laying there like he wanted to rot into the ground. At least he wasn’t alone. 

“Hey,” Blitzø called. Moving Stolas now would probably cause him to throw up, so their bed would have to wait. Instead he gently placed Stolas’ head on his knees, claws running through head feathers that still crackled with electricity. “Hey, pretty bird.”

Stolas mumbled at the pet name, one in four eyes blinking open slightly. “You’re here.” 

“I said I was gonna stay.”

“I thought it might be too uncomfortable for you.” Stolas was slurring his words like how Blitzø texted.

“You saying I’m weak or some shit?”

Stolas chuckled. “No. Though I suppose I should have known better.” 

“Damn right you should.”

Stolas finally managed to peel open all his eyes, and they immediately focused on Blitzø. The mania was still there, faintly, but pushed to the side by the L-word Stolas somehow knew how to say through gazes alone. 

“It’s so easy.” Stolas said, apropos of nothing.

“What?”

“This has never been easy for me.” Stolas continued. He turned and snuggled into Blitzø’s stomach. “But you’re here, and suddenly it’s easy. Even — fulfilling, like being rewarded after a job well done.”

Blitzø’s movement nearly halted at that. He never made something easy for someone. He never was a reward for a tired lover. If he was scared of love before, he had no idea how much more terrible it would feel to be scared of losing it. 

It was a good feeling. 

Blitzø gathered Stolas in his arms, tucking all of him in like they were already in bed, like how Stolas tucked him in when Blitzø showed up all those full moons ago and slept in what was now their bed for the first time without sex. It was his turn now.

“Let me take you to bed.” Blitzø said. 

And Stolas knew, Blitzø was really saying the L-word.

(Day Five&Six) ←

[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

[santoschristos]

Gold Dragon/ Year of the Dragon 2024

Auspicious in the East, stormy in the West In Buddhism, and most Asian cultures, dragons are universally auspicious, typically considered deities (rather than monsters) who bring life-giving rain and fertility/wealth, and are often Enlightened heavenly beings. On the contrary, in ancient Western cultures — arising from Greek and Mesopotamian myth — dragons are more likely to be monsters, since man is seen as “opponents of nature” — destined to conquer nature — rather than its allies. Dragons in the East would typically be thought of in the same was as we’d think of “Mother Earth” in western myth. Especially later, as Christian myth supplanted early spiritual paths, the dragon became an adversary of noble heroes questing to kill them.

“Unlike its demonic European counterpart, the Tibetan dragon is a creature of great creative power; a positive icon, representing the strong male yang principle of heaven, change, energy, wealth and creativity. Dragons are shape shifters, able to transform at will, from as small as the silkworm to a giant that fills the entire sky. Dragons are depicted in one of two colors, green or brown.

The green, or azure dragon of Buddhism ascends into the sky at the spring equinox; it represents the light’s increasing power in springtime and the easterly direction of the sunrise.

The brown dragon is the autumn equinox, when it descends into a deep pool, encasing itself in mud until the next spring, but its spirit is still with the practitioner bringing wealth and health. The pearls, or jewels clutched in the claws of the dragon represent wisdom and health. The dragon can control the weather by squeezing the jewels to produce dew, rain or even downpours when clutched tightly. The dragon is the vehicle of Vairochana, the white Buddha of the center or the east.” --From a feature on Buddhist Symbolism, note 8.