Caught on the big blue spruce and brought to me by The Grey Knight (formerly known as The Guy) who thought I'd appreciate it and maybe like to share it with the interwebs - does this man know me at all? I don't like dead Lepidoptera any more than I like them live, so I had him place it on the patio table where I could photograph it from a safe distance (I would have preferred he left it in the tree and called me to shoot it there but apparently that wasn't an option).
I have no idea what the species is, whether it's a moth or a butterfly but it's big, brown and bound to be one of these. It's about 6" from wingtip to wingtip, so if it had flown near me I would have screamed like a girl yet I'm sad that something that was so pretty is now lifeless. Anyone out there have a clue to its common or scientific name? (Click to embiggen).
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Big Brown Butterfly
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5 comments:
Pretty sure it's a polyphemus moth... thanks for sharing it. They are so neat!
Beautiful!
Does the Grey Knight know the Green Knight?
If so, please send a message to Gawain that we'd like him to strip at the next Blogina Event.
Hey, now we're booking entertainment for Blogina--the options are endless.
I love the moth-- my insect book is upstate but I'll trust Jennifer on this. Moths are really quite amazing. We once saw a hummingbird moth that knocked me out.
My Dad found one of those when I was a kid. It was ENORMOUS. We ended up framing it and putting it in the hallway. Wonder whatever happened to it...
I think Jennifer nailed it : the moth Antheraea polyphemus, named after the Cyclops Polyphemus, son of Poseidon and Thoosa. I don't remember him from Greek mythology so thank goodness for wikipedia....
and Nadine: literally???
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