Insects · Lepidoptera · Saturniidae

North American Luna Moth

Actias luna

Not Evaluated

It has not yet been assessed against the IUCN criteria. See full glossary

The luna moth is a ditrysian lepidopteran of the family Saturniidae. It is a lime-green moth native to the Nearctic region.

Size

up to 11.5 cm

Lifespan

1 years

Diet

Herbivore

Feeds mainly on plants.

Activity

Nocturnal

Active mainly at night.

Social structure

Solitary

Lives and hunts alone, joining others only to breed.

Sighting difficulty

Unknown

Fun facts

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 & 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
Gestation / incubation: The eggs hatch in around a week

Sources consulted: https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Actias_luna