This guy doesn’t have a mouth, doesn’t eat but can smell love a mile away
With a wingspan of six inches or more, the cecropia moth (Hyalophora cecropia) is the biggest moth native to North America.
Apart from its arresting size, it’s also beautiful. The wings are a rich reddish brown with large, white, crescent-shaped markings. Its sturdy legs and plump, red and white body are covered with a “fur” of hair-like scales. Each forewing bears a prominent eyespot near its tip.
One of 160,000 species of moths worldwide, the cecropia is distributed throughout much of the central and eastern U.S. But it’s not common, and like most other moths, it’s mainly active at night. If you’re lucky, you might spot one of these spectacular insects fluttering by a porch light, or perched near the large, gray cocoon from which it recently emerged.
Or you might find a cecropia larva, just as stunning as the adult.
It’s a fat green caterpillar with a colorful array of tubercles and spines. It spends most of its time feeding voraciously on the leaves of maples, willows, poplars, and other trees and shrubs.
Once fully grown and nearly five inches long, the larva constructs a silken cocoon within which it morphs into the winged adult.
Newly emerged cecropia moths are, of course, dramatically different from their younger, vermiform selves. Lacking functional mouthparts, as well as a digestive system, they don’t even eat. During their brief adult lifespan, usually two weeks at most, their primary activity is finding a mate.
In this regard, odor plays a crucial role. When receptive, female cecropia moths emit a “come hither” pheromone that males, using their huge, feathery antennae, can detect from a mile away and in minuscule concentrations – just a few hundred molecules per cubic centimeter of air.
Studies have shown that a male may fly up to seven miles in search of the female’s elusive scent.
Vicky McMillan, a retired biologist formerly at Colgate University,lives on Hilton Head Island. She can be reached at vicky.mcmillan@gmail.com.
This story was originally published August 23, 2017 at 7:42 AM with the headline "This guy doesn’t have a mouth, doesn’t eat but can smell love a mile away."