Nocturnal Moth’s Mysterious life

“See, below the Nandibattalu plant there are excretes of insects. There may be insects invading it. They will eat the leaves and spoil the plant”. My Grandmother who is the main care taker of the garden was telling this to my sister. I anxiously interfered to see who the invader was. © Mallikarjuna.D.G. To find out the camouflaged insects in the plant is very difficult as they will have the same colour as the leaves. These are caterpillars which are green in colour, with a small white band and small yellow coloured tail. It also has a false eye which is a blue coloured marking to defend themselves. To find out which butterfly or moth it transform into, I kept them in a box with some leaves of this plant for them to feed on. I checked at night and saw that among them one was dead and other has turned into brownish colour and I thought it is about to die. Next morning I left them all on the plant itself. © Mallikarjuna.D.G. © Mallikarjuna.D.G. After 3 or 4 days my sister told that there is some new insect below that plant. When I checked it I realised that these are the pupas of those caterpillars. I collected them in a box. After 7 days this pupa turned black. Next morning I saw the pupa was open and the moth had come out. Yes!! This is a moth. © Mallikarjuna.D.G. Moth was green coloured, with white patched wings and big eyes. They cannot see in day that’s why it was laying still. I found its name as Oleander Hawk Moth. I released it at night and it flew away. A moth is an insect closely related to the butterfly. Both are of the order Lepidoptera. The most strict difference is in the feelers or antennae. A butterfly has a thin straight pair of antennae which end in a small club, while moths usually have large feathered antennae for the males and thin, straight, unclubbed antennae for the females. The large majority of moths are nocturnal or crepuscular (active at dawn and dusk), although there are some diurnal (day flying) species. Moths rest with their wings spread out to their sides. Butterflies frequently fold their wings above their backs. Moths tend to have very fat hairy or furry appearing bodies, while butterflies are slighter and smoother. Moths’ fore and hind wings are connected, while those of butterflies can move independently. After seeing this ugly fat caterpillars transforming into beautiful moth, many questions aroused in my mind. Who guides them to transform from leaf coloured caterpillar to soil coloured pupa? How the wings form inside the pupa? Which force will guide them to find their feed plant to lay their eggs? This is an endless, delightful, patiently observing mystic world. Viewed 2444 Times | Comments (0)

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