Tuesday, June 29, 2010

such a moth





I managed to get another photo of the ermine moth known as the Ailanthus webworm.
As a general rule, moths are nocturnal and drab. The males and females find each other in the dark of the night by scent or that certain je ne sais quoi. When it's right, it's right, you just know it.

But this ermine is anything but drab. It's actually rather flashy. Something I didn't notice before: the white markings on the legs. This is one fancy lepidopteran, and it's only about three-quarters of an inch long! The closer you look at nature, the closer you want to look. It's infinitely more fascinating than anything you can find on the Internet, so turn your computer off and go outside.

Capisci?



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