Species of the Week: The North American Luna Moth

Photo by Claire Alarcon-Belanger

#SpeciesOfTheWeek has returned! This week, our featured species is the North American Luna Moth! This enchanting creature is recognized by its lime-green colour, which helps it to camouflage with the undersides of leaves in its natural habitat. It has an eyespot on each wing to confuse predators and a wingspan of 10 centimetres or greater! The Luna Moth only has one generation per year in Canada and can be seen here at Murphys Point in late May/early June. They typically make their homes among deciduous trees such as white birch, maple, and oak. However, these moths only live for 1 week — making them a rare sighting. In this single week, their sole purpose is to reproduce. They do not even have a mouth for feeding and instead rely on stored fat from when they were a caterpillar. Have you been lucky enough to see one of these beauties here at Murphys Point?

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This entry was posted in Friends of Murphys Point, Murphys Point, Murphys Point Provincial Park, Species of the Week. Bookmark the permalink.

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