This male moth...

[tilia_tomentosa]

... the little thing with the big wings on the right...

... he can really FLY! *happy dance*

Not just flutter through 5 to 10 centimeters at a height of a couple of centimeters, but take off in the air and circle around me a little. He perched on my arm twice. Very untypical of a Bombyx mori domestic silkworm moth. It's good that there was that

Comments

[tamena]

those are the moths that make the worms that spin the silk???
I am absolutely fascinated by all this!!!
and they're pretty!! What happens to them after they do the deed and make little spinning worms????

[tilia_tomentosa]

I'm glad you like them. :) Yes, mine are what passes for pretty with this species. The flying ability is extremely rare, unless they are some degree of cross with the wild predecessor, which mine aren't. Most domestic silkworm moths in the world can't fly at all, and some don't even have normally developed wings.

After they mate and the females lay their eggs, they die in a few days. They don't even eat as adults (it's not from the domestication - the wild species is like this too), so they only rely on the fat supply they've stored at the caterpillar stage.

Their eggs will hatch next spring.

[london1952]

It's going to be "Darina and her Amazing Performing Moths" !!

[tilia_tomentosa]

LOL