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Giant Flightless Cossid Moth

Catoxophylla cyanaugus

Description:

Large, grey moth. Approx 8-10cm long Juvenile? as wings don't appear to be fully developed.

Habitat:

My backyard, crawling through the dirt. (Wagga Wagga, NSW)

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9 Comments

TamDalton
TamDalton 9 years ago

Apparently our backyard is a breeding ground. There are dozens of empty cocoon! Great experience for my girls! :)

Mark Ridgway
Mark Ridgway 9 years ago

Wow lucky you. I'm surprised at this time of year.

TamDalton
TamDalton 9 years ago

I had the pleasure of watching another of these emerge from their cocoon today (9/5/15). Only took a few minutes to emerge completely. Approx 3-4 inches long.

TamDalton
TamDalton 9 years ago

Mark, that is a large lighter!! She was about 2cm longer that it!! Thanks for the ID. Much appreciated!

cseltzer
cseltzer 9 years ago

This is so cool!

Mark Ridgway
Mark Ridgway 9 years ago

Is that lighter in the last pic the small or big size of lighter?

Mark Ridgway
Mark Ridgway 9 years ago

You have is a wonderfully unusual find. A female flightless cossid like I thought and the only species in the genus.

TamDalton
TamDalton 9 years ago

Thanks Mark! Her wings are so small, her abdomen so large! I thought she may have exited a little early! I'm going to re-release her at the botanical gardens this evening. My cats and dogs are looking at her like a snack!!

Mark Ridgway
Mark Ridgway 9 years ago

Wow fantastic find. A moth doesn't develop gradually but changes from a caterpillar to a pupa then to a fully developed adult moth. Therefore if you have some wings and legs the creature has finished it's final transformation. So this one has to be a big fat flightless female. Some females need not fly so wings are disappearing. They just hatch and produce pheromones to call the males. I will search for huge flightless female moths later. Family might be Cossidae.

TamDalton
Spotted by
TamDalton

New South Wales, Australia

Spotted on Apr 30, 2015
Submitted on Apr 29, 2015

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