Carol Anderson and Gary Carr and their black Labrador, Jasmine, had the rare experience of having a huge, gorgeous moth emerge from its cocoon at their home in the Waldron Road area near Aroma Park recently.
Anderson, a retired nurse who grew up on a farm in western Illinois, said she always has been fascinated by bugs and butterflies. So, when she noticed a large cocoon on a plant holder on their deck last fall, she put the plant rack in a protected area and left it there for the winter.
It was Jasmine who alerted them to the giant moth's emergence on June 26 when she "went over to the plant holder and sniffed at it," Anderson wrote in a note to the Daily Journal. "We then noticed this beautiful moth resting on the cocoon. It stayed there all day, opening and closing (drying) its wings. It is a Cecropia Moth, the largest moth in North America. ... When it became dark that evening, the moth flew away for parts unknown."
The Hyalophora cecropia moth is relatively common, according to online articles, but few of us ever see them — perhaps because they're nocturnal, perhaps because we lack the curiosity and the moth-sniffing dog to alert us. Anderson said she had never seen one live before.
The cecropia is a very large silk moth — the largest in North American in fact, with a wingspan of 5 to 7 inches, according to an online article from the National Wildlife Federation.
They are "among the most spectacular of North American Lepidoptera ... prized by collectors and nature lovers alike for their large size and extremely showy appearance," according to an article from the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agriculture.
With "reddish bodies and black to brown wings surrounded by bands of white, red and tan," they also are called robin moths.
During their mating phase, the females produce pheromones that males can detect from more than a mile away. They produce more than 100 eggs, although many of the caterpillars will be consumed by predators.
The caterpillars also are spectacular, changing from black to yellow to green as they grow to as long as 5 inches before cocooning at summer's end to emerge as a moth in the spring or early summer.
The National Wildlife Federation labels it a "fun fact" that bolas spiders mimic the female's pheromones to lure the males into becoming spider food.
The cecropia caterpillars feed on the leaves or maples and other trees, and in rare years have been very destructive, but "are found in such low abundances that they don't cause significant damage to ornamental landscaping," NWF states. "The caterpillars are harmless and the moths are beautiful to see in the spring."