royalty

•

Regal moth, a.k.a royal walnut moth (Citheronia regalis)

One of the great things about summer are the visitors that show up on your backporch attracted by the bright lights at night.

It would be tempting to think that this royal walnut moth is the adult version of the caterpillar I found and blogged about last August: junior devil. It's probably not, odds are overwhelming against such an occurrence, but it's fun to imagine that I could be so lucky to be visited twice by the same creature in two different forms, although in this case the incredible green hulk morphed into handsome physicist Dr. Bruce Banner, although I don't remember him being a redhead.  

The adult royals have the largest body (not the greatest wingspan) of any moth that's found north of Mexico. The caterpillars ARE incredible hulks—the legendary, green and over-sized hickory horned devils.

•