Hey Cali, I've a moth on by bathroom wall that is maybe 1/4 inch long and 1/2 inch wide. It has spots on its wings that look like eyes and a ridge down the middle that looks like a bird's beak.

I've seen, in Mexico, what the locals call "hawk/bird moths", but they where the size of my palm and the wing pattern did look like a hawk face. But this little guy is tiny.

What the fuck is up with that?

Well first of all, let's see if we can get a handle on the species, shall we? What geographical location are we dealing with first of all? Only if its outside the UK, I might have trouble tracking it down for you, especially if it's one of the less well covered Families (the Sphingidae or Hawkmoths now have a comprehensive online database with a worldwide remit). Also, were these eye spots on the forewings or hindwings? I ask this because I can't think of any UK moth with forewing eye-spots off the top of my head, with the possible exception of the Eggars (Lasiocampidae) and the Emperor Moth, but all of those are much larger than the stats you give for your specimen.

That ain't nothin' more but a little ol' bug

Calilasseia wrote:Well first of all, let's see if we can get a handle on the species, shall we? What geographical location are we dealing with first of all?

Southern Utah.

Only if its outside the UK, I might have trouble tracking it down for you, especially if it's one of the less well covered Families (the Sphingidae or Hawkmoths now have a comprehensive online database with a worldwide remit). Also, were these eye spots on the forewings or hindwings?

Forewings, the big wings, centered. Hind wings not visible. The beak looking part seemed to be formed by how the wings came together.

I ask this because I can't think of any UK moth with forewing eye-spots off the top of my head, with the possible exception of the Eggars (Lasiocampidae) and the Emperor Moth, but all of those are much larger than the stats you give for your specimen.

Not anything like an emperor moth or Eggars (Lasiocampidae), I googled pictures.

It was more like this guy:


Except more of a triangular shape.

A central American moth.

http://www.superstock.com/stock-photogr ... se+Eyespot

rainbow wrote:That ain't nothin' more but a little ol' bug

It's a really cool itty bitty bug that I am curious about.

I've seen very large moths that mimic raptor faces on their wings, but never one this small.

I'm wondering about the evolutionary implications involved.

Zambian Moth.

Oldskeptic, if you fancy a trawl through the plates of the Moth Photographer's Group website, and see if you hit the jackpot, then by all means do so, but this exercise will keep you going for the best part of a week.

I've just waded through all the Geometrids for you, in the hope that your description would result in a hit within that Family, because many of the moths that appear triangular at rest are Geometrids. Something like three thousand species later, no joy.

I'd suggest you start with the smaller Families to start with, because big Families such as the Noctuidae will keep you going for about 8 hours at a stretch - in the case of the Noctuids, there's close on 5,000 species in the American fauna!