Anyone ever see one of these?

[hunteatsleep]

I went out to my truck and noticed this guy on my rear tire. I don't know if its a butterfly or a moth but it was huge.My tires are30x9.50x15 to give you some idea of how big it was, unfortunately it was dead this mornin.
http://www.hunt101.com/img/418752.JPG
http://www.hunt101.com/img/418750.JPG

[3toes]

Great pic. That is a beautiful work of God's Creation!!! Never seen one like it before. If you have kid's save it for them to use on a school project.

[KY_Fried]

I've seen those before but not very often. Usually the ones I see are about that size or a little bigger and are a really light green color. I don't know what they're called but I know it's some kind of moth. I like how that one has the big fake eyes on it's wings to scare off predators. Neat stuff.

[trust me]

I've encountered that same bug a couple times at night under the lights on a softball field. I think they burn themselves on the lights and flutter down, looks like a helicopter making an emergency landing. If we ever saw one flying, we probably just thought it was a bat, they're so big.

[Gobblergetter2.1]

I caught one of those years back. Im not sure what kind of moth it is, but it definatley is a moth.

[westkybanded]

Luna moth?

[Art]

I see them all the time around the lake. I have also seen many out around security lights way out in the country.

[Manzanita]

Looks like a Cecropia Moth.

http://images.google.com/images?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rls=GGLG,GGLG:2006-25,GGLG:en&q=%22Cecropia+Moth%22

[AteUp]

http://www.ivyhall.district96.k12.il.us/4th/kkhp/1insects/cecropia.html

Yep, cecropia moth. They only live for 2 weeks as an adult. They do not even feed as they have no mouths or probiscus. They look too much like a dang hairy spider with wings to me!!

http://www.ivyhall.district96.k12.il.us/4th/kkhp/1insects/bugpix/cecropia.JPEG
With a wingspan of 5 to 6 inches, the cecropia moth (Hyalophora cecropia) is the largest North American moth. It is a member of the family Saturniidae. Cecropia moths are often referred to as silkworm moths.
Although these moths are common throughout North America, you don't often see them because they fly only at night. However, because a cecropia moth is colorful as well as large, when you do see one for the first time, you won't forget it! Like most moths, they are attracted to bright lights. This is where most people see them for the first time.

IDENTIFICATION:

Body is red with a white collar and white bands on the abdomen. Wings are dark brown with white hairlike scales giving a frosted appearance; forewings are red at the base. Crescent spots and the area outside the postmedian line are red on all wings.

Cecropia moths do not live long (about two weeks) because the adult cecropia cannot eat. In fact, they don't even have a mouth or proboscis! The only purpose of the adult stage is to mate and lay eggs. If you are luck enough to see one of these beautiful moths, remember that they are only here for a very short time!

LIFE CYCLE
In northern climates the cecropia moths emerge from their cocoons as soon as the weather warms up enough in late May or early June. Late at night, the female emits a scent called a pheromone that will attract a male moth. The male senses the pheromone with his sensitive antennae. He is so attracted to the scent, he can find a female from a distance of a mile away! The mated pair will remain together throughout the following day.

EGG:

A female cecropia can lay more than one hundred eggs. They are usually placed in small groups on the underside of leaves. Depending upon the weather, it takes seven to fourteen days for the eggs to hatch.

LARVA:

The newly hatched caterpillars, or larvae, are black and approximately the size of a mosquito. Cecropia larva have many enemies. A newly hatched caterpillar can be the victim of even a tiny spider. Unlike some other moths, cecropias have so many enemies they never become a pest.

Before the caterpillar is ready to spin a cocoon, it will molt several times. The stages of a caterpillar's life between molts are referred to as instars. The cecropia caterpillar's colors change from its original black coloration to a green-orange color as it goes thorugh its larval stages. Although the caterpillars increase in size with every molt, a predator is always waiting to prey on them. Many kinds of birds, insects and other predators easily overpower these defenseless caterpillars.


Cecropia Moth Caterpillar
http://www.ivyhall.district96.k12.il.us/4th/kkhp/1insects/bugpix/cecropiacatcansml.jpg

The caterpillars take most of the summer to mature and are up to four inches long when fully developed. They are bluish green, and along the back there is a pair of yellow projections on each body segment. The first three pairs of tubercles are more conspicuous and are in the form of yellow balls with black spines. The cecropia caterpillars feed mainly on cherry, plum, apple, elderberry, box elder, maple, birch and willow, but will also feed on linden, elm, sassafras and lilac.

Cecropia Moth Caterpillar
http://www.ivyhall.district96.k12.il.us/4th/kkhp/1insects/bugpix/cecroplUK.JPEG
A cecropia caterpillar's skin doesn't grow. When a caterpillar becomes so large that its skin is stretched to the limit, it's time to molt again. It will spin a silken pad and attach itself to the pad. The caterpillar will remain still for several days in this position while it is developing new skin. Then, when it is ready, with the old skin attached to the silk pad, the caterpillar will literally wiggle out of its old skin. With his new loose fitting skin, the caterpillar can begin to grow again. By the time they are ready to pupate, or spin a cocoon, they are almost five inches long!
PUPA:

By late summer, the caterpillar is ready to spin its cocoon. It will spend several days spinning a tough, brown, weather-resistant home. Inside the cocoon the caterpillar will pupate and prepare itself for winter and the miraculous metamorphosis in the coming spring. The winters where cecropia moths live can be very cold. In their cocoons, they can survive temperatures less than thirty degrees below zero Fahrenheit! The structure of the pupa inside the cocoon changes to allow it to withstand these temperatures. It remains protected, waiting for a beautiful spring day!

DISTRIBUTION:
Hyalophora cecropia, North America's largest silkmoth with a wingspan approaching six inches, flies in all Canadian provinces except British Columbia and Newfoundland. In the U.S., there are some highly localized populations reported in Washington and Utah, but generally the cecropia moth lives from the Rocky Mountains and east. Like all Hyalophora species, the cecropia moth is univoltine,which means there is only one brood each year. Depending on how far north or south the live, they can emerge from the cocoon anytime from March, in southern latitudes to early July in the top half of their range.


EMERGING FROM THE COCOON:
Cecropia moths tend to emerge in mid morning from relatively large cocoons and have little trouble slipping through the loose valves in both the inner and outer cocoons. The adults quickly climb to hang and inflate their wings.

PHEROMONES AND MATING:

Pheromones are scents, or smells, used by many creatures to attract a mate. Males cecropia moths have been marked and are known to have flown over seven miles in search of the wind-born female pheromone scent plume. After the couple separates the following evening, males are on the wing again and some males can successfully fertilized several females.

EGGS, LARVAE, AND COCOONS:

Large eggs with reddish brown mottling are deposited in short rows of three to six on host food plants. Black first instar larvae eat a portion of their eggshells and tend to be social, lining up side by side on the underside of a leaf. Second instar larvae with yellow/green bodies and black protuberances are also social and grow rapidly.

Third, fourth, and fifth instar larvae are similar in their spectacular appearance. Most larvae spend approximately one week in each instar (a growth period ended by a shedding of old skin) except the final one of two weeks where a total length of 4.5 inches is often reached.
Large cocoons are always fastened lengthwise to branches, stems, trunks of the host plant or neighboring locations. Sometimes a leaf wrap is used, but often the caterpillar will make its cocoon without the aid of any props. A loose valve is spun at the pointed top of the oblong cocoon and another valve is arranged at the top of a denser, inner cocoon.