Also known as the castor-oil moth, castor-oil looper, and croton caterpillar, the achaea janata moth is most easily distinguished by the bold black and white markings on its hind wings.
The caterpillars feed on castor-oil plants and on crotons as well as the leaves of bananas, capsicum, and citrus. This moth was in an area with a fair number of castor-oil plants growing wild.
The fireweed control moth (Secusio extensa) was deliberately introduced from Madagascar in 2012 because its larvae feed on fireweed. Unlike many other introductions, the moth was first confined to a study area to make sure it would not wreak havoc on native species. Having passed that test, it was released into the wild.
I’m not sure how much impact the moth is having on the fireweed, but I think it’s a pretty and quite striking moth.
This week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme is ‘Macro or Close-up Photography.’ (See more responses here.) In response, here’s a close-up photo of a monarch butterfly feeding on a tasselflower.
This week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme is ‘Yellow.’ (See more responses here.) Naturally, I thought of a butterfly with orange in its name on a very red flower.
This is a large orange sulphur butterfly investigating the feeding possibilities on a red Chinese hibiscus flower.
A passion vine butterfly feeds from blue heliotrope flowers. What I liked about this was the lower image where the passion vine butterfly has spooked a lesser grass blue butterfly into flight. It made me think of the Hank Williams song, Move It On Over, and in particular the line, ‘Move over little dog cause the big dog’s moving in.’
The psamatodes abydata moth is also known as macaria abydata. Its common name is dot-lined angle moth. The moth was first introduced into Hawaii in 1970 and became established on all the main islands by 1984.
This one was perched on the window of a vehicle, giving it that splendid blue background and cool reflections.
A lesser grass blue butterfly reveals the reason for its name, at least the blue part anyway.
Posted in response to this week’s Sunday Stills challenge on the theme of ‘Blue.’ See more responses here.
I peered down into a spider lily one day and this is what I saw looking up at me, a gecko with wings. The wings, of course, were those of an unlucky moth, which the gold dust day gecko had snagged from behind. The moth struggled a good deal, but there was only ever going to be one winner in this contest.
Graham's Island 