Ooo, nice lifer! That’s one of my top-10 moths that I’d love to see (along with the atlas moth, Madagascar sunset moth, and every other moth that exists).
Yes, but at its root is the scary ‘child-which-I-fiercely-love-protecting world’. Protective lying as an economical but effective adaption tool for human survival. It may contain potential for prolonged fear and phobia development that restricts healthy nature attitudes and learning, but if the task is to maximize protection with limited resources, it makes sense.
One of my earliest memories is being told by my mother not to enter the woods which were literally a 4 minute walk from our fenceless yard because of the risk that a hungry bear will eat you. And this was reinforced by my 3 older siblings repeating it every time we were all set outside together. Usually when my mother needed alone time to complete her household tasks (this is in a time long before we even had a television).
I still remember even 5 or six years later, recurring and intense nightmares of a bear sticking its head through the bedroom window. This was when having moved to a new city where the woods were just as close, but absolutely bearless.
As a parent myself, I have learned to be wary of finger-pointing blame on mothers for their parenting ‘mistakes’ and passing judgement on their calls without actually being in the same shoes. (Lord knows there’s enough of that going on in movies, etc.)
I was lucky enough to spend a lot of time with my kids in wild areas and teaching them how to be safely curious, alert, and observant. And there have been many times where they have had to explain their ‘fearlessness’ to others, mostly in their peer group, but also to adults.
I’ll never forgot the frantic call at work from a summer camp counselor who ‘caught’ my seven-year-old nibbling on wild blackberries in a group nature walk and wanted to take him to a hospital to get him checked out. I had to explain what my son tried to explain to them that blackberries are super easy to identify and safe to consume. That took a lot longer than I thought.
17K observations in 2024, and 14K, and counting, for 2025. Problem is other things were keeping me busy during the year, not a problem anymore.
Wow! I’m definitely quite busy, but I’m sure I’ll get some time off this summer!
spotted this cool, almost leopard print moth yesterday in Virginia. a Palpita sp. (aenescentalis?)
A Maltese Bloom!
And then this guy from tribe Nygmiini.
iNat links for both: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/340597739
Some mothes I saw in a restroom.
Observation link: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/357442151
Observation link: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/357442150
Observation link: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/357442152
Observation link: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/357442153
Yay! I was thinking where are Eupterotidae (Monkey moths) as I was scrolling. They are a cool group with possibly ~500 species across world except in Europe.
that species name was almost lost in recent literature, its “Eupterote discrepans” Moore, 1884.
