It's been a crazy summer for butterflies and moths and we are still finding all sorts of interesting moths hanging around the hallway outside our apartment. This one actually scared me, though, with its gigantic size. The body alone seemed hugely substantial for a moth; I am used to moths seeming like all wing. It was actually rather more daunting at a distance than close up, because with my mediocre eyesight, I felt that I should not have been able to see any kind of moth so far away so clearly. I found Robert rather brave in his willingness to put his hand so close to it. This is not based on any rational expectation that the moth could do anything damaging to a human, but it could decide to fly at you, which would be extremely distressing. Robert was able to ID the moth but I can't remember what it was called.
Another creature that has been hanging around on the ceiling for a while now is this stick bug. I have seen various stick bugs before, but have never seen one move, and while its presence on the ceiling maybe should have been indicative of flying ability, it could also just be a lively climber, right? One evening, this "does it fly" question was answered with an emphatic yes as it leapt into hyper motion and attacked a ladybug that was flying by. In the last few days, the stick bug has gotten browner in color and I haven't quite decided whether this is some kind of aging process or whether the green one has left and been replaced by a brown one.
6 comments:
We looked it up - it was a Polyphemus moth. It is the second largest in North America or some such - slightly larger than the luna moth we had a while back.
Perhaps the stick bug is changing colors for autumn.
That moth is either Humphrey's dream or nightmare. :)
We've had stick bugs hang out by the patio door at different times, but I have never seen one move - not even to go somewhere else, let alone attack prey. What a National Geographic moment!
Humphrey would look like he had brown powdered sugar all over him if he caught one of these, the way moths disintegrate on contact. Have you noticed the body on the thing, btw - it is almost the size of my thumb. I mean, my thumb is small, but not THAT small. We are talking cricket-like 'CRUNCH' if the cat caught it.
Robert found that there are something like 2,300 species of mantid in the world. We don't know which one our stick bug was.
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