Late last week I spotted this moth on a bush. It was the largest I’ve ever seen with my own eyes and after doing some research later, learned that it is a Polyphemus moth, named after the man-eating cyclops in “The Odyssey” but despite the name, are quite harmless. (Odysseus said his name was “Nobody”, tricking the cyclops before blinding him, so that his men could escape.)
The mouth of the Polyphemus moth is too small, so it can’t eat and thus only lives for one week.
Two days ago, I checked to see if it was still there after some heavy rain we had and was surprised to see that there were two!
Now they’re both gone, only the cocoon remains.
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