My moths have now deceased, the Suraka was a male (I hadn't checked properly) but the Giant Atlas laid her eggs. Your moths eggs will be smaller than these but may look similar.
Soooo beautiful. So enormous. The antenae (if that's the right word) are incredible - like a bat.
I'm sorry he deceased. Why did the Suraka silkmoth die? Was it as a pupa? (Sorry I got a little confused about which one you are holding in the pics).
Was my lady a buff ermine, do you think? And was the lover the same? He didn't seem very erminey, though he certainly thought he was buff.
Thank you for all the fascinating info. What a new world! I will try the torch trick tonight. And I will keeping a sharp eye out for pupae in the future. I'm not sure I can take the drama. I don't want to keep pets, I don't have room for honey bee hives, but I can help resident frogs, toads, moths, butterflies and solitary bees.
The top pics are of the Atlas moth and the bottom ones of the Suraka. Don't be sorry they died, that was their full lifespan! Both species only last approximately 5-10 days. I'm not sure what kind yours is but I've just bought a British and EU moth and butterfly book so I'm going to have a good look through. I imagine the other moth was a male version as different moth species give out different pheromones to attract their own kind. Thankyou for sharing the photos of her. It is wonderful to be able to support wildlife in our gardens even if our gardens are tiny with pollinating flowers and a little pool of water
Having looked in my book I would say you're right to say she's a buff ermine although my book only shows the white ermine. It says the caterpillars feed on a wide variety of herbaceous plants. The females lay eggs in large batches on those plants. It could also be a brown-tail moth though which looks very similar but interestingly says that the chrysalis is black-brown with pale hairs. Caterpillars of that one feed on deciduous trees.
I think I have. A friend just told me that moths can lay eggs in a ball of fluff, so it seems that my lady did mate and has laid eggs in the basket (!) I have a ball of fluff. I think I probably disturbed her in the laying, so I'm not sure if they will some to anything. I found another pupa today of a very different shape. It's all go here! Good grief.
Wow, lucky you Fire! All I can find in my garden is cabbage white caterpillars on my nasturtiums. I'd like to make a correction about the fluid that comes out of the cocoon, it is to break down the cocoon to make it easier to get out, not for lubrication as i said, lol. I had read that and forgotten it but have just been reminded of that fact in a book my little lad got from the library! So apologies for that bit of duff info. Fire, if your moth is the kind we think it is they lay their eggs on the underside of broad leaves, I'm not saying your friend is wrong because I'm still learning myself and not familiar with most species, but please be aware that spiders lay eggs in what may look like a tiny ball of cotton wool. I am more familiar with spiders than moths having kept tarantulas for 25 years but I understand other people's dislike of them.
Thanks. I saw her laying the eggs, I just didn't know what it was. I saw a friend today who knows about moths and he confirmed the fluff is where the eggs are. I guess she had mated (in the pictures) and the basket was the best place she could manage for her eggs at the time. I got confused because I thought she had got out and I left the basket open. I think that perhaps she had crawled into the wicker work and I couldn't see her. I didn't really manage the whole thing very well. I don't expect the eggs would mature.
Ooo how exciting! I've just been researching and found a species called a gypsy moth which the male and female look just like your moths and do indeed lay a mass of eggs in hairy fluff. Apparently they are a rare immigrant and found in very few areas! (According to the website I found) Maybe that's what yours are.
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