Giant Moth, No Godzilla!

Last March, when we returned from our Master Naturalist Chapter meeting, I found this big guy on the exterior house wall, under our carport. Appropriately, enough, the speaker at our meeting was Dr. Chris Nice, from the Biology Department at Texas State University. His talk was about insects and butterflies.

It was 9 pm and dark when we got home. We had left the carport lights on, so perhaps he was attracted to them, but he was just resting on the stone wall. I measured his wingspan at 5 inches from tip to tip. The moth's body is quite furry and he has feather-like antenna. There are a couple of ways to tell butterflies and moths apart. First, a moth will have a furry body while a butterfly's will be smooth. Also, a moth has feather-like antenna and butterfly's are thin.

I approached quite closely to the moth to take the photo, but he never moved. The flash firing didn't affect him either. I went into the house and when I returned about 1/2 hour later, he was gone.

I've identified him as a Polyphemus Moth (Antheraea polyphemus). It gets its name from the eye spots - Polyphemus was a mythical Greek Cyclops in the Odyssey. There are actually two more eye spots on the lower wings, but they are hidden in the photo. I think it's a male because of the very bushy antenna.

The next night there was a different moth on the same wall. This is a female of the same species. Her antenna are not as bushy and she has a large abdomen due to carrying eggs.

I think I've seen the species' large green caterpillar on a tree once, but I didn't get a picture. I'll have to be on the lookout for one.