Imperial Moth

First let me give a big shout out to my sexy hand model. That would be my husband, Dave. Since he occasionally makes it over to my blog, "I love you hunny bunches". Now, back to the business at hand. (Get it?) Ha ha ha I am such a funny blogger, aren't I?

This giant winged creature is an Imperial Moth. Imperial moths are part of the Silk Moth family. While I don't normally advocate handling butterflies and moths, this poor guy was at the end of his life cycle. Once Imperials mate, that is pretty much it. The adults have no way to feed and slowly die away making room for the youngsters.



I am pretty sure this Imperial was a male. As large as he was, the female Imperials are larger. They also have less purple splotching and the antennae are smooth as opposed to the fibrous antennae of this specimen.



Goodbye beautiful moth. Hopefully, we see your youngsters next year.



~Jessica~