Luna Moth Actias luna

• 23 Mar, 2008
• 7 likes

One of the bad things about taking your tropical plants out into the garden for the summer. Apparently a Luna moth larva pupated in one of the plant pots and eclosed in the warm house in March, way too early for others of his species. I found him flying around the house one evening. The only purpose of the adult Luna is to mate and then die. They have no mouthpart (proboscis) so they can't eat. I kept this moth inside and made him comfortable until he lived out his short life of about 10 days. The Luna moth uses many different trees for their host, including alder, beeches, cherries, hazelnut, hickories, pecan, sweet gum, and willows. A Luna makes his cocoon in a leaf that then drops to the ground where they winter over until anywhere between May and July here in Ohio.