Moth Man -- 2011 Season.
Time line of events of 2011:
- June 2: First emergence of Cecropia Moth (male) in in Madison, WI). Released the next day.
- June 3: Second Cecropia. Male again. Released next day.
- June 5: First Promethia. Female. I'm keeping her for a few days to see if she can attract a male.
- June 7: Promethia male flies in from whereever. This usually happenes around dinner time - early evening - for Promethia.
- June 8: TWO female cecropia emerge. Will the males they attract be the same ones I released? Alas, no males came (cold and rainy period? ) and the females died.
- June 26: Two Cecropia emerge - Male and Female (last two of season for me).
- June 29: Male is drawn in from wild. One of males mates wiith female and I get a bunch of eggs.
- June 30: Release all three Cecropia.
- Note: two more Promethia emerge but no female so I release them on July 1 when they start to fly.
Pictures and notes from 2011 (click on each image for a larger view):
First Moths emerge in Madison, WI.
Cecropia (left) and promethia moth
Cecropia and promethia came out within a day this year so I took this picture to compare the two species. The moth on the left is a male cecropia. The moth on the right is a female promethia. In cecropia the male and female are virtually identical except for shape of thorax and size of antennae. In the promethia the female is light brown and the male is very dark brown (looks nearly black when flying).
First promethia pair in Madison, WI.
Promethia moths mating
Compare the female promethia (left) and male (right). Nearly the same size but quite diferent in color.
This male has just flown in from the wild (attracted by the female's pheromones) and they imediately began coupling. This will continue for a few hours after which the female will imediately fly away to find an appropriate tree upon which to deposit her eggs (if I let her).