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Luna Moths

© Mel. White

I don't think you ever forget your first sight of a Luna moth. I came upon mine suddenly one early Texas evening, just when the stars had begun to twinkle faintly in the eastern sky. It emerged from a tree like an angel descending in the night; a huge winged shape with large eyespots and wings of chrysoprase green. I stopped, startled by its beauty and grace and by the sudden sense that something beyond all my experience just floated past on wings of velvet. I haven't seen one since then (for they are rare here), but I never forgot my first one.

The Luna moth and its cousins, the Polyphemus moths, are two of the larger North American moths. Their wingspan ranges from a mere 3 inches to as large as 8 inches, though most usually have wingspans in the range of 4-5 inches. They're distinguished not only by their size but by the two large eyespots on their wings. Some believe that these spots fool predators into thinking the moth is really the forehead and eyes of a much larger creature.

They're members of the "giant silk moth" family; Saturniidae and come not from the Orient but from the eastern seacoast of the United States throughout the midwest and in southern regions of the Canadian provinces of Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, and Saskachewan.

Fortunately for the species, the huge caterpillars of the Luna moth aren't very picky eaters but will gleefully munch away on white/paper birch, sweetgum, persimmon, hickory, walnut, oak, hazelnut, alder, and a number of other native trees. They eat a lifetime's worth of energy in the caterpillar days, for the adult moths have no mouthparts and do not eat. They only exist to breed before they die.

In the northern states, only one brood of Luna moth emerges each year, but as you move southward you find that these lovely moths emerge two or even three times a year. In the warmest areas of our country, emergences can be more frequent. One entomologist says that in Louisiana you can find these huge green moths at any month of the year. Most often it's the male Luna moth you see flying around, on the scent trail of a mate. Female Luna moths don't fly until after they mate.

The female lays up to 300 small grayish brown eggs after she mates. Between one and two weeks later, the tiny green caterpillars hatch and begin eating their way toward adulthood. They're not likely to deforest your favorite pecan grove, though, for the female Luna month lays only 4 to 6 eggs in one spot before flying elsewhere, so there's plenty of food for every caterpillar and enough of the plants left to make sure they survive, too.