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lejun | profile | all galleries >> Butterflies and Moths >> Magnificent Moths tree view | thumbnails | slideshow

Magnificent Moths



My goal in this gallery is to present whenever possible, the moths in their natural habitat.

I would like to acknowledge Bob Patterson (Moth Photographers Group of Eastern North America)
and J. D. Roberts (contributing editor to www.bugguide.net) who provided a number of the moth identifications on this webpage.
The identifications noted in these galleries are based on visual surface characteristics and thus should be regarded as tentative or preliminary.
Many species of moths are so similar in appearance that they cannot be identified based on surface characteristics noted in photographs.
Conclusive identification of moths often can be provided only from DNA and genitalia observations.
Any ID errors in this gallery are strictly my responsibility.
Please call to my attention, any specimens that you feel are mis-identified.


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U.S. MOTHS: Pre-Tortricid - Tortricidae
U.S. MOTHS: Pre-Tortricid - Tortricidae 		U.S. MOTHS: Pre-Pyraloid - Phycitinae-Peorinae
U.S. MOTHS: Pre-Pyraloid - Phycitinae-Peorinae 		U.S. MOTHS: Thyrididae - Geometridae:Lithostege
U.S. MOTHS: Thyrididae - Geometridae:Lithostege 		U.S. MOTHS: Epiplemidae - Noctuidae:Catocalinae
U.S. MOTHS: Epiplemidae - Noctuidae:Catocalinae 		US MOTHS: Noctuidae:Catacola - Amphipyrinae
US MOTHS: Noctuidae:Catacola - Amphipyrinae
U.S. MOTHS: Noctuidae:Cucillinae-Grotellini
U.S. MOTHS: Noctuidae:Cucillinae-Grotellini 		African Moon Moth Gallery
African Moon Moth Gallery 		Atlas Moth Gallery
Atlas Moth Gallery 		Unidentified Moths
Unidentified Moths

comment
Terry T 11-Feb-2014 19:39
Yes. I have a picture of a moths under body and it has a very detailed of a mans face wearing a crown. very very unique! ive look at all pictures on the internet and have not seen this moth. and yes I did capture the shot of this moth. I would love to share this pic if this site would like me too.
ray preston 13-Jul-2013 19:32
This is ray from verizon wireless right next store to deb and i got a bunch of pics of it if anyone wants them i can email them raymnd12@gmail.com
Deb 13-Jul-2012 02:16
I saw a moth this week I had never seen before. On a store front at a plaza in Butler, PA. 3.5 to 4" from head to end of wings. Would probably been 6" or better spread. Body, legs and head were thick and all bright orange. Wings were much larger than body.
Multi pattern of Orange and yellow in color. Wish I had a picture to show. Several customers were looking at it and no one had ever seen anything like it. I spent an hour looking at multiple moth image sites and cannot find it.
jegs 05-Sep-2010 10:54
good to share photo
Carrie Stpeney 21-Jul-2010 23:34
Hello! My Name is Carrie and I found a "huge yellow moth" at work today. I live in New Jersey. I would like to know what type of moth it is? CAN ANYONE HELP ME?! From what I found so far searchiung the net it resembles "the huge yellow moth" from Mentezuma, Costa Rica. It looks exactly like it and the wing span is about 5-6 inches matybe more. However I cannot find the name of this moth. Also when I caught the moth it began to lay massive eggs. Can someone help me?
Guest 21-Mar-2010 00:26
Thank you very much for sharing!
nigelpartridge01-Aug-2009 16:47
Oh Wow! Fantastic gallery. I DO appreciate the time and effort that has gone into this.
Well done.

Nigel
Guest 27-Dec-2008 17:08
Hey
Rachel 01-Oct-2008 07:59
Your site is awesome. Thank you very much for this work!
Jean-Claude Liehn06-Aug-2008 04:31
Beautiful series. Congratulations.
Tina Baltimore 29-Jul-2008 22:37
Yesterday I saw huge, beautiful moth on the side of a Wal-Mart store near an entrance. At rest, its wingspan appeared to be approx. 5 inches and was mostly yellow in color, with some tan and lavender. Its body was about 3 inches and was yellow with a stripe of lavender down the back. Its "head" appeared soft and fuzzy and was the largest part of the body, which tapered down gradually. I wish I could have taken a picture. It was absolutely stunning.
Chrissy 13-Jul-2008 01:54
Hi lovely gallery.Today I was with my friend at the mall and were walking outside and saw a huge moth on the wall it had an orange body and what looked like orange fellers and body its wings were a light brown color with some orange.I would really like to know if you could tell me what kind it was.I have never seen a moth that big.
Thanks Chrissy ,PA.
Ali Majdfar28-Jun-2008 12:05
Stunning captures, excellent. GMV
Belle 17-Jun-2008 19:34
I found a big moth in my warehouse in Colorado, and I would like to figure out what type it is. It is about an inch long, and its wings are a little less than two inches wide and rest away from its body. It is brown with black stripes across its wings and back, and it has yellow stripes along the sides of its head and two very distinct yellow stripes across its back near its tail. Any help will be greatly appreciated!
Krzysztof Masłowski12-Jun-2008 21:56
A really great collection. VOTE!
Will you comment on myhttp://www.pbase.com/krzysztofmaslowski/foty1_nature ?
Luc Meynaerts05-Apr-2008 20:00
Very nice naturally gallery... beautiful work
Ashley Hockenberry21-Feb-2008 18:03
Great work !!
Cameron 01-Oct-2007 22:46
this place is simply amazing. i have found alot of moths here. thank you so very much
Jean Sabatier 03-Sep-2007 09:40
Help! I am trying to indentify a huge moth that we found inthe kitchen in Tenerife last night. It was black with a white marking on its head. When I tried to collect it to put it outside using a paper tissue it made an alarming rattling noise and was quite strong in its movements. I finally trapped in a covered glas and released it. Its wing span was about 6cms and body length about 8cms.....quite impressive!
rcope 27-Aug-2007 13:29
Magnificent pictures! I noticed the Yellow Wooly Bear moth is perching on an iris. My wife found a YWB caterpillar in her butterfly garden 2 weeks ago on a monarda. By the next day it'd moved the whole 2 feet to an iris and has since been working on the leaves diligently.
william mahan24-Aug-2007 19:56
Wow! What a fantastic collection...beautiful and varied...You should do a book on these !!!
Chuck2011 18-Aug-2007 23:32
WOW what a beautiful site. Thanks for sharing with the world. A true wealth of information.
Guest 04-Aug-2007 19:09
indeed a fabulous collection excellent work.
lejun18-Jul-2007 14:14
Hi Mary:

The moth for which you requested an ID is the Regal or Royal Walnut Moth (Citheronia regalis). A beautiful moth always wonderful to see.



Lew Scharpf (Lejun)
Guest 17-Jul-2007 14:59
Hi, I am trying to identify a large orange moth we found in a receiving dock in Virginia. Any info yuo could provide would be greatly appreciated, my 5-year-old is very excited to learn more about our visitor!

Link to pics of moth:
http://darksword.tripod.com/moth/moth.htm

Thank you again!
andrea 03-Jul-2007 18:53
Hello. My dad recently found a large moth at work. I didn't spot a similar one in your gallery and was wondering if anyone could identify it. I have a photo of it, is there a way for me to attach a picture? I'll try to describe it anyways: its wings aren't fully expanded but I would imagine if they were it would have a span of about 3 inches or more, it has a distict pattern with many shades of green and tan, looks very similar to army camoflage. Hope that's descriptive enough. I'm not usually interested in moths, but I didn't realize they had such unique patterns. Your gallery is great, they're very beautiful! Thanks! :)
Doris Potter14-Jun-2007 02:43
A wonderful and extensive collection of beautifully taken pictures. You do these lovely creatures justice! Voted.
Janice Dunn07-Jun-2007 02:21
You have an amazing number of moths. Excellent captures, thank you
Adrian 26-May-2007 21:33
very, very good and artistic job. Bravo.
lejun16-Apr-2007 01:45
Sounds to me like a Snowberry Clearwing...what some call a type of hummingbird moth. You can see my image athttp://www.pbase.com/lejun/image/47326662
lorraine 16-Apr-2007 01:28
I just saw an amazing flying moth or bee feeding mid air like a hummingbird on our lilac bush. It had an elongated black, furry body; longer than what you usually see on a bumble bee. Brillant yellow face and sides of head and upper torso. Distinct yellow ring near the tail around the body. The tail was furry. Overall about 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 inches long. It's wings moved so fast that you could only see a blurr. We're in the Santa Monica California Mountains about 1000 ft elevation. I've never seen anything like it. Any ideas of what it was. I've seen lots of bumble bees but this looked more like a moth.
John Cravatta28-Mar-2007 03:14
Thanks for sharing. I enjoyed the entire Gallery!
John Cravatta28-Mar-2007 03:14
Thanks for sharing. I enjoyed the entire Gallery!
John Sandfield 23-Aug-2006 21:11
Recently in south of France and encountered very large black and yellow moth looking like a large, shiny bee (or was it a bee?). After a close encounter with a passing truck it disappeared into a crevice in the concrete at the bottom of a gatepost. Can anyone help identify, please?
Rosemarie Kusserow12-Aug-2006 20:23
Hi lejun, these gallery show really magnificent moths, I enjoyed every one, congratulation and thanks for sharing all these wonderful creatures with us, a big vote, Rosemarie :o)
Mike, Toronto, ON 06-May-2006 19:01
Wonderful site!! Great pictures!! Very inspiring work.
elias filali25-Nov-2005 22:49
thanks for sharing these beautiful photos you are an inspiration and i always enjoys looking at your photos ,all i say keep up the good work ,u got my vote,
simply bravo and i am a fan of yours with pleasure
please accept my invitation to my galleries and feel free to critisize or complement
www.pbase.com/elias2033uk
lejun05-Oct-2005 15:19
Hi Beth: Thanks for your interest. You can see an image of the Saddleback Moth athttp://bugguide.net/node/view/6838
Beth 05-Oct-2005 11:46
Hi, can anyone show me a picture of a saddleback moth (in its moth form)? I have saddleback caterpillars happily eating away at my store bought tropical plants. Do they overwinter in a pupal form or do they still have time to fly from Delaware this late in the season?
Just curious to know more about these distinctive-looking caterpillars.
Thanks,
Guest 21-Sep-2005 13:05
Excellent Gallery!
Angela 07-Sep-2005 23:36
Can anyone help me with this? My friend found this in her backyard....she lives in Arizona. We are having trouble identifying it. She said it's 3-4 inches long. Thanks!
[IMGhttp://img.photobucket.com/albums/v232/Rowansmomma/staceymoth.jpg[/IMG]
Gerry Lemmo / www.gerrylemmo.com 06-Sep-2005 01:18

This is the best site for moths that I have yet discovered. Excellent images, along with names, are of great help in identifying my own file of moth photos which I have, after many years, begun to add on to. One of the most recent additions is a white underwing.

Keep up the suberb work!
Lucy Elmore05-Sep-2005 22:38
Marvelous gallery of moths! Maybe I'll hang onto my Saddleback Caterpillar to see what sort of moth emerges! Thanks for sharing this gallery!
Graham Tomlin01-Sep-2005 02:12
nice gallery
click on thumbnails for full image