Gasp!! You lucky duck you! That's a urania swallowtail moth. I'll have to look up what the host plant/s are - congrats, congrats!!
Sherry

Here is a link that might be useful: Urania Swallowtail Moth

Here's another link, with a picture of many females laying eggs on a host plant, Omphalea diandra.
If I were you, I'd be so excited, I might faint! :)
Sherry

Here is a link that might be useful: Urania Moths Ovipositing on Host Plant

Now see. that's what I mean about learning on this forum. I never knew such a moth existed. This is great.
kay

I too am envious of your butterflies .... please keep posting pics!

Someone in Texas(?) posted such a moth image here about two years ago. Siam, note that your specimen has no antennae clubs, that automatically eliminates it as a butterfly.

Now I am curious was siam driving while mothing and is that an empty Twinkie wrapper?

HHiii Sherry, Is it really that much of a great find??? Im excited!!! :D :D thanks so much for Iding it!

hahaha Larry, yes i was in the car, wasnt driving though, aahahha and that is wrappers on the floor! omg! I spotted the swallowtail dead on the roadside, stopped ran out of the car without my shoe on!! and got it :P

Siam.

I'm not sure how rare it is where you are, Siam, but it's rare in the U.S., apparently only showing up now and then in Texas. And being day flying moths, you can enjoy them as much as butterflies. They're breathtakingly beautiful, so, if I were in your area, I'd sure plant the host plant!
Sherry

Yep i am going to plant the host plant for them as long as i can find it. There arent many pictures of the host plant online, so im not sure exactly what it is. but ill have to go looking for it.
Siam.

Nice find Siam, thanks for sharing.

About this time in Costa Rica most years the Uraniidae influx and migrate in great numbers. It's probably much the same in Trinidad/Tobago. Wish I had access to my old photographs of them, and especially thier larval and nectar food plants to scan and post for you. The locals in CR call Omphalea popnut. It's a 10-12' woody lianas (vine) and has a yellow edible nut (if prepared properly as these plants are toxic). If you get lucky and find some larvae, most species from this group pupate in forest floor litter, so shredded paper towel in the bottom of their rearing cage is an easy and healthier alternative. The Neotropical species seem to favor the flowers of Eupatorium (a very tall aster) and Inga (a tree legume) for nectar, so if you can locate plants of either of those genera in your area they will probably be a magnet for adults. Otherwise they tend to either fly high out of net range or sneak around close to the ground through the forest tangles.

Have fun and keep us posted.

Larry

That's beautiful!
I will never see one here.
How come none of our exotic invasive insects are ever butterflies (or a moth like that one). We get Japanese Beetles instead. : (

LOL Christie, e have lots of ugly bugs also!!
I saw one of the moths flying through my garden today, but it didnt stop on anything!
I hope i find the host and nectar plants.
Thanks Larry, for all the infomation, im so glad there are so many helful people here on gardenweb :)
Siam.

Ooooh, how pretty. I don't recall ever seeing misssherry so excited ;)

Yes, my favorite color is green, Tracey - I guess that's why I love luna moths so much - and these are bright green, unusual in the world of leps. The only other bright, dark green lep I've ever seen is in pictures of one of the birdwings of Australia.
And Siam is only the second person to post a picture of a urania moth since I've been posting on this forum. The other person was in south Texas about ?4 or 5? years ago, and, as I recall, this person wasn't a regular butterflyer, but a urania moth showed up in his or her greenhouse.
The new world tropics are blessed with so many brightly colored birds - including hummingbirds - and butterflies!
Sherry

Here's a link to some good pictures of O. diandra, Siam.
Sherry

Here is a link that might be useful: Pictures of O. diandra

Im getting excited now that this moth is rare!!
Miss Sherry, thank you sooo much for the pics, i was really hoping i'd get better pics of this plant!
Siam.

Here in continental North America the Urania are an uncommon stray from Mexico and the northern Carribean islands (especially Cuba), although some could be from as far away as Central America and other ilsands too. But I'm afraid they are far from rare in their normal range in the Neotropics, and where you are is in that range with many different species. Not all Uraniidae species are as brightly colored as yours is. Many have cryptic patterns of white, tan, brown and black etc, so are not as often noticed maybe. A guess is that the one you pictured is a Urania leilus though.

I looked up a picture of U. leilus, and I don't think that's what Siam's moth is, but even if it is, the host plant is listed as Omphalea, also.
So keep looking for Omphalea, Siam. :)
Sherry

Stunning!

I didn't consult pictures as they seldom take into account for species variation, but rather three similar species in my SC. Looks closer to the U. leilus than the others. Even so its all just speculation without the bug in hand.

well whichever it is, im still gonna find that omphalea diandra!!!
:D

Awesome moth!!! I've been away from this website for a long time and am sorry I missed this post!

We get those Urania moths migrating through here - last major sighting was back in 2005 and prior to that 2003.
Our local South Texas chapter of NABA has member photos of it. http://www.naba.org/chapters/nabast/Urania.html

Do hope you are able to raise some!!!

~ Cat