Lunarcy! Complete Lunarcy!

Once again, I'm contributing to the popular segment Crazy Shit I See at Work.  Today's episode is brought to everyone by the phases of the Moon, and the letters L and M.  The Actias Luna, more commonly known as the Lunar Moth, is probably the largest moth species with a 4.5 inch wingspan.

Giant bugs are always terrifying, especially the flying ones, mostly because they remind me, and probably everyone else, of potential B Movie terrors.

However, the Lunar Moth, although enormous and seemingly life threatening, only lives for around one week, mostly because it doesn't have a mouth or digestive system.  From the subfamily Saturniidae of the family Saturniidae, of the order Lepidoptera, Lunar Moths are closely related to other moon moths, mostly from East Asia, and Tussah silk moths.  

The picture below was taken in the morning, around 9am.  Lunar Moths typically hatch from their pupa stage in the morning, and find a place to stretch and harden up their wings in order to fly away.  Usually this takes about 2 hours.  So... I witnessed an important process in its brief life.  Nature is pretty cool up close.