Dawna,

How exciting! I am so glad you found one. If you watch closely, you may see more in the same area. After I saw the one last year, I ended up seeing 5 or 6 more within about a two-week period. All but two were within about 20 yards of the spot where I saw the first one, strangely enough. Some were male and some were female.

It does seem really early, but...who cares? You saw one! The ones I saw last year also were pretty beat-up looking. I think they emerge, mate, and then die after a few days. Sort of a really, really short life.

Dawn

Yeah Dawn, it was your post last year that made me know what it was. I had seen them before but never knew what they were until DH came home talking about this huge moth at work, right about the same time you had posted. I googled it and then knew that was what it was.

There is a cocoon in the same tree with the moth, so I am guessing it is from the moth? Or is it the cocoon the moth came out of? I know nothing about these things but am trying to read up on them now. The cocoon looked like a rock in the tree, LOL, but when I touched it it felt papery. From pictures I am googling, it appears the moth in the tree is a male, but that is just because its antennae look more full and feathery like in the close up picture linked. The cocoon in the tree looks like the one in the picture, too. I am amazed to find one this early in the season, especially as cold as it's been the past two nights. Thanks for the tip on looking for more. I will keep my eyes open while I'm walking. The only reason I spotted it today was because it was in a tree that was barely budding out, and only had a couple of leaves on it.

Here is a link that might be useful: luna moth

Dawna,

I've never seen the cocoon or caterpillar here, but then I wasn't really looking for them. Our lunas last year were found in two places....near the outside water faucet which sits directly under the outside spotlight mounted on the electric pole, and also at the fire station, again in the area underneath the spotlight that lights up the front of the building.

Do you know what kind of a tree it was? If so, maybe that would give us a clue as to what to watch for?

Dawn

Dawn,
The moth is looking really bad today, still hanging on though I thought he was dead when I first saw him. I don't know what kind of tree he was in, as it hasn't leafed out yet and it's not on my property. The tree is directly under a security light though, so maybe the moths are drawn to the big lights? I will post again if I see any more.
Dawna

Luna moths have an extremely short lifespan as an adult. They don't have mouth parts so they don't eat. Pretty well all the moth does is mate and die. They are attracted to lights. That is how the male and female find each other. Wonder what they did before electricity was invented? :-) I find 4-5 a summer on our drive way under our security light.

randy

Dawna,

When I found them, I got the impression that they had accomplished their purpose (mating and laying eggs) and were just laying around waiting to die. It took several days for them to die, and I had to put a chicken wire cage around them at times to keep the cats from playing with them. Every day they looked more ragged and tattered and sad. It is a shame that such a beautiful moth only stays with us for such a short time.

Randy,

I can't believe you see them every year, you lucky dog. I have seen them only 3 or 4 separate years, and when I saw them long ago, I didn't know they were fairly rare so I didn't even appreciate it at the time.

Dawn

Dawn & Randy,
I found another Luna moth today. Actually DH found it yesterday, beside the greenhouse, and thought it was the same one I found last week. But while I was walking today, I decided to check it out and saw it was a different moth than the one I found last week. This one is very beat up after the storm, but it still has the long parts of his tail (?)wings and the other one had lost one of his before I found it. This one looks like another male by the looks of its antennaes. This one was also under our security light. The one last week was in a tree under the neighbor's security light. I am surprised to find this one, as we mainly only have pine trees around our security light.
Dawna

Dawna,

You know, it is the oddest thing. Last year, when I found the first one , I was just delirious with joy. And then, over the course of the next couple of weeks, I kept finding one more and one more and one more..... It made me wonder if they had always been there and I just hadn't noticed, or if for some reason, it was just "my year".

So, I guess this is just "your year". I haven't seen any yet.

I wonder if the Lunas come to the lights to find one another. Normally, a moth comes to a light to look for bugs, but these don't eat, so it can't be that.

Regardless of why they are there, congrats on seeing another one. I am happy for you. You know, I remember seeing them on the front porch screen door when I was a kid. I loved 'em and thought they were beautiful, but had no idea at the time how rare their beauty was nor how short they lifespans.

Dawn

Dawna, Dawn & Randy,

They are beautiful! I've never seen one. Oh my...they have no mouth parts?

Laura

I see them occasionally, but not regularly. I have seen a few VERY large and VERY colorful catepillars on little trees that I work around in late spring. They are munching on the new leaves. Maybe one of them?

This winter I saw a "pouch" on a small seedling (down on a branch in the grass) I was cutting down. I cut it open before I realized what it was. I saw another one just a couple of weeks ago in a similar location and left that one alone. Possibly?

Laura,

Well, they don't eat once the have pupated into moths, so I assume they have no mouth parts. They basically mate, the female lays eggs and they die. They do eat (obviously) in the larval stage.

Dawn

Here is a link that might be useful: Luna Moth Caterpillar Photo

Scott,

It's possible you have seen the caterpillar. One of the host plants of the Luna is the carya species.

randy

Randy, I kind of suspected it (last summer) because of the size and coloration of the caterpillar, and especially because I had seen some moths early last spring. I didn't mind it eating my little tree, although I did move one from a good tree to a tree I wasn't going to keep.

I'll have to find some images of one so I know for sure.

Saturday night I found a luna moth hanging onto the window screen of one of the upstairs windows. The light shelf where I raise seedlings, currently occupied with pepper plants, sits in front of that window. I saw the moth as I was walking to the shelf to turn off the lights. It was a female luna, so I assume she was hanging around looking for a male. I'll look outside for her Sunday. My best guess is that she moved somewhere under the outdoor security light after I turned off the plant light.

Dawn

Cool, Dawn,
I hope you'll see the moth again today. I'm pretty sure I saw two more last week flying around my security light when I was outside late one night, checking on my horses. They kind of scared me at first. I thought the biggest one was a bat, it was so huge. But then I figured out they were both large moths. As big as they were, I'd bet they were Luna moths. I watched them flying around the light for awhile, hoping they would land so I could get a close look at them. Then I looked for them the next few days in the daylight hours, but couldn't ever find them again.
Dawna

Dawna,

I looked for it this morning and didn't see it. Hopefully that means she met a male and has gone off to lay her eggs. I will look for her again tonight.

Dawn

If y'all have questions on any of the sphinx or silk moths, the Butterfly Gardening forum has lots of answers from people who have reared them before. Right now, there is a lot of discussion on Cecropias.

Unfortunately, Oklahoma does not see a lot of the silks because we are at the western most range for them. The Eastern US sees a lot more. We do have lots of sphingids, though.

Bill Oehlke has THE best website for info on the silks, sphinx, and catacolas. He has helped me out by answering lots of questions, and has used a lot of my images of the sphinx I have found in my backyard.

I'm giving you a link to the lunas in case you're interested. If you have a female, you can put her in a paper bag where she will lay eggs. Then you can cut around the eggs and put them with their host plant and watch the cats grow (instars) and form their pupae (needs sticks and stuff to construct the cocoon).

I'd love to raise some if I ever get any, but I think I will order the cecropias eggs from Bill to get started on them. They eat either Sweet Gum (as do Lunas) or black walnut.

Susan

Here is a link that might be useful: Luna Moths