Found while weeding: Cecropia moths

The other day I was weeding in a bed very close to the house, when I spotted this pair of cecropia moths mating. I didn’t know what they were, so of course I checked with Dr. Google, and found out what I was looking at and photographing. The following information on cecropia moth (Hyalophora cecropia) is from Wikipedia:

The moths mate, and the female spends the remainder of her life laying eggs, while the male may mate several more times. Because the adult moths do not have mouth parts they are unable to eat. As a result, the lifespan for an adult Cecropia moth is generally only 7 to 10 days in the wild, perhaps a little longer or shorter, depending on how much movement the moth makes.

I was hoping that the moths would still be there the next morning — I had the idea that on a cool dawn I could move one or the other into a more photogenic spot than the house foundation — but by that time they were gone. Photographic lesson: you don’t often get a second chance to shoot something interesting.

Tagged as: Hyalophora cecropia