North American Luna Moth

• The adult does not feed: its proboscis is vestigial and it has no digestive system at all, so it lives on the fat stored as a caterpillar and dies within a week or ten days.
• Each of the four wings carries a transparent crescent-shaped eyespot, which is where its name comes from.
• The very long tails on the hindwings confuse bats' sonar, so that they strike the tail instead of the body.
• The female emits pheromones and the male detects them at a distance with his feathery antennae; mating takes place after midnight and laying begins the following afternoon.
• The caterpillar, when threatened, rears up, clicks its mandibles and regurgitates a foul-tasting fluid.

Skeleton type

Invertebrate - chitin exoskeleton (insect)

Habitat and environment

Deciduous woodland of eastern North America; the caterpillars eat the leaves of birch, hickory, persimmon, sweetgum and sumac, and the cocoon is spun among the leaf litter on the ground

Size at birth

Egg of about 1.5 mm across; the caterpillar goes from 6-8 mm in the first instar to 70-90 mm in the fifth

Sexual maturity

The adult emerges with vestigial mouthparts, does not feed and lives around a week on the fat reserves built up as a caterpillar; copulation takes place after midnight and laying begins that same night

Gestation / incubation

The eggs hatch in around a week

Litter / clutch size

Eggs mottled white and brown, about 1.5 mm across, glued in small groups or singly to both sides of the leaves of the food plant

Sources consulted: https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Actias_luna; Ficha de especie de Actias luna; Butterflies and Moths of North America; Butterflies and Moths of North America, ficha Luna moth; Clemson University HGIC, ficha Luna moth; Clemson University HGIC; Ontario Native Species Guide

Best time: A single generation from May to July in the north of its range and two to three from March to September in the south; the adults fly at night and come to light

The pins mark the parks where its presence is documented.