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Copaxa lavendera
A spectacular yellow female of the Silkworm Moth Copaxa lavender. She has a wing span of almost 8 cm! She arrived about 2 in the morning and was very tame. Her body is furry yellow with pink legs and well marked spiracles on the abdomen. Family Saturniidae.
Came to an ultraviolet light in the garden, San Cristobal de Las Casas, 2,200 meters.
Several children in the neighborhood were present for the first night of Moth Week Explorations and were thrilled and fascinated when this one came. This moth has a relatively small distribution from southern Mexico to Honduras.
14 Comments
Thank you Bill, I hadn't realized we had two species of Copaxa here! Very neat.
Yes, very nice images of a female Copaxa lavendera. The link to the male shows a Copaxa cydippe male. The male of lavendera is orangey, but also has the very large ocelli, like those of the female, not small as in cydippe.
Bill Oehlke
Thank you Terri :)
great photos! such a beautiful moth!
Thank you Karen. Hope this one had a happy, if short, life....
National Moth Week Fun Fact! The family Saturniidae refers moths in this family with eyespots. These eyespots usually have rings around them, resembling the planet Saturn. Moths in the family Saturniidae also have reduced or lack mouthparts and depend on fat reserves from their larval stages to live. As a result of this, many moths in the Saturniidae family live for only about a week, solely for the purpose of keeping their species alive.
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Thank you outside girl :)
very pretty!
Thank you dotun. It sure does look like your pink and yellow one! There must be some genetic relationship between them - far back in Pangea... :)
Dotun's Nigerian Moth: http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/278...
Looks like one of mine. The second photo is very nice :)
Thank you Carol! :)
What a simply gorgeous moth!
Thank you so much Adarsha :)
Fabulous details :) Love it :)