Actias Luna Moth Inflating
April 24, 2001

This male is from Brooksville, Florida, emerged 04/24/01

There are few things as breathtaking as the delicate patterning and colouration of a freshly expanded silkmoth. The best way to obtain perfect specimens is to preserve newly emerged moths before they have lost any wing scales.

The pictures below show a freshly emerged male, body plump with wing fluids, hanging quietly from foliage.

Wings are, at first, yellowish and the body lacks the lateral red line typical of overwintered northern stock.

In a very short time, contracting muscles force fluid into the wing veins and expansion begins. The forewings usually expand at an accellerated pace compared to the hindwings.

With members of the Actias genus, the tails usually expand last in a process that seldom takes more than about thirty minutes.

Once the wings have fully expanded, there is a stiffening process that takes a few hours before the moth is ready to fly.

The tails of the moth (above right) still have not completed their inflation.

All images on this page are courtesy of Scott Smith.

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