September 12, 2010 1:13 am
– – It’s not Mothra, but the world’s largest real specimen is the Atlas moth, named after their map-like wing patterns. Boasting 12-inch wings and breathtaking colors, the Atlas moth lives a mere two-week life span owing to the fact that they have no stomachs and their mouths don’t form properly, preventing them from eating anything!
Native to the rain forests of Southeast Asia, the Atlas moth lives its brief life off the fat it accumulated as a caterpillar, and spends its adult life breeding other moths…a short life but a merry one, eh?
Posted by vulpesffb
Categories: animal oddities, insects, Invertebrates
Tags: Atlas moth
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Actually, it’s only the world’s largest moth in terms of total wing surface area. With regard to wingSPAN, the South American white witch moth is the biggest. Followed by the Hercules Moth of Australasia.
But, in any event, I agree that it’s one big moth-er. 😉
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By carycomic on September 13, 2010 at 6:17 pm
You have no shame…I like that in a furson! 😉
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By vulpesffb on September 14, 2010 at 1:47 am
Incidentally: I first read about the Hercules moth in the 1963 Worldbook Encyclopedia (circa the first grade). And, intrigued by the name, I used to fantasize about a Saturday-morning cartoon about a crime-fighting insect by that name!
Forty years later, of course, I realize I was performing a one-boy pastiche of Hanna-Barbera’s “Atom Ant.” Good thing they never found out!*
*Although, I don’t think you can sue a five-year old for plagiarism. Or, can you?
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By carycomic on September 13, 2010 at 6:25 pm