This moth is outta this world, cause it's a Comet Moth (Argema mittrei)! ☄🧚‍♂️ Here are some fun facts: • They come from Madagascar, giving them their other common name: the Madagascan moon moth. • Like all giant silk moths (Family: Saturniidae), these moths lack a functioning digestive system. They rely completely on the fat reserves from when they were munchy caterpillars. • These moths have a very cool cocoon which is covered in holes. It is suspected that the holes allow rainwater to drain,

It’s National Moth Week! To celebrate, here are two different angles of luna moths as they painstakingly cut their way out of the silk cocoons they built as caterpillars and overwintered in as pupae! Adult luna moths (Actias luna) have a unique way of emerging from their cocoons using sharp “spurs” at the base of their wings. Most of their giant silk moth cousins rely on an enzyme known as cocoonase, which they secrete in order to melt perfect escape holes from their cocoons. Luna moths use this