Yesterday afternoon I made my weekly trip to buy groceries and find treasures at the Goodwill store. I was quite awestruck by what I found OUTSIDE the store...a beautiful Imperial Moth! I snapped the above photo with my cellphone and could barely wait to get home to show Don.
It was about two inches wide from wing tip to wing tip and the colors were just amazing. Naturally I had to get online to learn all I could about this beauty.
The Imperial Moth is a member of the Saturniidae family of moths which is also known as royal or regal moths. I can certainly see how they came by that moniker as it was truly a regal creature of the night!
They are really ugly as caterpillars and feed on oak, maple, pine, sycamore, sweet gum and sassafras leaves. We have plenty of those around, so I'm a bit surprised I haven't seen one before now!
I have to admit, I didn't find much inside the store yesterday, but seeing this gorgeous Imperial Moth outside made it worth the trip.
Thanks though.
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