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Large red moth laying eggs on my babies ... Sorry, no pic.

Sorry, I was unable to snap a photo ;-/


I saw what I thought was a large red rose petal wedged under the leaves of one of my older adenium seedlings. Imagine my surprise when I went to remove it and it took flight! It was a large bright red moth! Yes, RED, like a rose petal!! I'm a NYC gal ... Never seen anything like it in my life! I immediate thought, "RAID!!!"


I checked the area where it was, looking for damage. What I found was a very neat cluster of yellow eggs under a leaf, which I immediately hand removed. They looked like this:

This scenario reminds me of the Giant Grey Sphinx Moth, which conducts itself similarly on plumerias. It lays its eggs on the plumeria leaves (frangipani), the caterpillars (frangipani worm) hatch right at the food source, eat all the foliage on the entire tree, fall to the ground, burrow under some leaves where they form a crysallis, from which emerges the moth to lay its eggs and the cycle continues.


So, does anyone know what that red moth was? Is it endemic to the Caribbean? I have never seen it before. Is it to the adenium what the Giant Grey Sphinx Moth is to the plumeria? How do I keep it off my seedlings, which are out "in nature" in the backyard? My poor babies!!!


Maria Elena

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