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Butterfly Garden

Help in Id of very unusual butterfly!

16 years ago

This is my first time here and I am looking for help! First, I don't know how to attach a picture of this butterfly I am talking about, so help please! This is so important for people to see.

One of my outdoor cats mistakingly took this butterfuly as a bird and brought it down, biting off some of its right wing. It is hurt. It has eggs. AND it is the largest and most unique butterfly I have ever seen where I live. It is easily eight inches. I took several pictures of it with my digital camera, but need instruction on how to get the picture to you.

If this butterfly is a rare one, which I think it is, can I save it and what do I do? First, though I need help in id-ing it.

THANK YOU!

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Comments (9)

MissSherry
16 years ago
Without a picture I can't say for sure, but any "butterfly" that's easily 8" must be one of the giant silkworm/saturnid moths. Does it have red, gray, different shades of brown and white? Then it's probably a cecropia moth. Yellow and burgundy? An imperial moth. Mint green? A luna moth. Looks like it's got two eyes on the lower part of its wings? A polyphemus moth. It might be one of the sphinx moths - a few of them, like rustic sphinxes, are really big.
Here's a link to help you ID it.
MissSherry

Here is a link that might be useful: Butterflies and Moths of North America
tinkerbell_cat
Original Author
16 years ago
Thank you! It has an orange-red furry head with eyes and fern-like attenae, and with beautiful markings on its wings. Black spots, white swirls, orange and black patterns on the wings. Poor thing is dying on my leather glove which it is clinging on. I put it under one of my Lilac bushes for comfort. I managed to post a picture of it in the photo gallery, if you are still interested in looking at it.

I am not comfortable with mercy killing, so I "layed hands" over this beautiful creature, asking Mother to allow her to die without pain and gracefully.

I have NEVER seen such a gorgeous creation here in Western New York as this moth. Very odd things are happening with Nature, as anyone who's heart strings are attached to Her as mine are, will attest.

Again, thank you for your response. I am grateful to you. She is beyond help and am just allowing Nature to take care of its own.
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You may also have some False Nettle (Boehmeria cylindrica) nearby, which they also use as a larval host plant, and which is native here and probably Kansas as well. You can recognize the caterpillars by the "nests" they make of a folded over leaf sewn closed with silk. I am hand raising some of the caterpillars right now. If you ever wish to attract the fruit feeding butterflies that like to nectar on rotting fruit, scat, and tree sap, you can hang a rotting banana in a suet feeder (or place on a plate - the possums always steal whatever I put on a plate), and you will attract several butterflies to it, including the Red Admiral, Question Mark, Comma, Mourning Cloak (spring and fall), Hackberry Emperors. BTW, butterflies are much easier to ID than plants, IMHO, because there are fewer of them. But glad we could help you. Susan
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Msrpaul
16 years ago
tinkerbell cat...you have a great heart!

Paul
MissSherry
16 years ago
I can't find your picture on the Gallery, but I'm sure it must be a cecropia moth, one of nature's most gorgeous creations! Unfortunately, the big moths don't live long - don't we wish they could live on and on?
Thank you for your kindness!
MissSherry
emmayct
16 years ago
Tinkerbell, I've had the pleasure of raising Cecropias for the last 2 years. The adults have a very short lifespand of only about a week. They never feed as adults, their sole purpose is to mate and create the next generation. They are also beautiful caterpillars.

Did yours look like this?

{{gwi:484585}}
gcertain
16 years ago
Tinkerbell Cat's photo is in the main GW gallery. Here's a link:
http://photos.gardenweb.com/garden/galleries/2007/06/injured_exotic_unknown_butterf.html?cat=bugs_butterflies
MissSherry
16 years ago
Gorgeous!
MissSherry
susanlynne48
16 years ago
Moths have those "fern-like" antennae you describe, too, where butterflies do not. Also, butterflies in North America do not get as large as the silk moths.

You are a kind, generous person, and we thank you for doing what you could to make the moth comfortable.

Susan
tinkerbell_cat
Original Author
16 years ago
YES! That is my moth! Even though I am against interfering with Mother Nature, I found my moth suffering the next morning, with ants already eating her, and she was not dead yet! Oh man! So, I took a large stone and crushed her. I could not bear to see her suffer. I said a prayer, and asked God to take her and her babies Home to a beautiful garden where she could live for all Eternity.

Thank you for all the replies here. Apologies for not getting back here sooner. I have been extremely busy with my gardens, repairing all the damage that was done here in WNY last October with our terrible ice storm.

Blessings!

Tinkerbell

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?what to do with this little guy?

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