Sep
1
2011
Imperial Moth
Was surprised by this big guy fluttering around the porch light last week. Obviously a Saturniid, but one I had never seen before. This sighting prompted me to stumble across the Butterflies and Moths website and this wonderful article from 3 years ago: The Butterfly Effect.
These large Saturniid moths are becoming increasingly rare, threatened by something you might not think much about–light pollution, which disrupts their normal behavior, preventing them from reproducing and leaving them vulnerable to predators. This species figured in the books ‘Moths of the Limberlost‘ and ‘Girl of the Limberlost’.
