''Coscinocera hercules'', the Hercules moth, is a
moth
Moths are a paraphyletic group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not butterflies, with moths making up the vast majority of the order. There are thought to be approximately 160,000 species of moth, many of w ...
of the family
Saturniidae
Saturniidae, commonly known as saturniids, is a family of Lepidoptera with an estimated 2,300 described species. The family contains some of the largest species of moths in the world. Notable members include the emperor moths, royal moths, and gi ...
, endemic to
New Guinea
New Guinea (; Hiri Motu
Hiri Motu, also known as Police Motu, Pidgin Motu, or just Hiri, is a language of Papua New Guinea, which is spoken in surrounding areas of Port Moresby (Capital of Papua New Guinea).
It is a simplified version of ...
and northern
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
. The species was first described by
William Henry Miskin
William Henry Miskin (1842 – 1913) was an Australian solicitor, politician and entomologist.
Early life
Born at Guildford, England, William Henry Miskin moved to Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia at age 9 and later to Brisbane. He ...
in 1876.
Description
Adults have a
wingspan
The wingspan (or just span) of a bird or an airplane is the distance from one wingtip to the other wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777–200 has a wingspan of , and a wandering albatross (''Diomedea exulans'') caught in 1965 had a wingspan of ...
of about , making it the largest moth found in Australia, and its wings have the largest documented surface area (300 square centimeters) of any living insect. They are mainly colored golden-brown and white, with transparent spots on each of the four wing sections – the coloring and patterns between sexes is mostly static. However, adult males have longer, slimmer tails on their wings than females do, making it somewhat easy to differentiate them in this way.
Their larvae grow up to 12 cm (about 4.7 in), and will weigh around 29 grams in their final
instar
An instar (, from the Latin '' īnstar'', "form", "likeness") is a developmental stage of arthropods, such as insects, between each moult (''ecdysis''), until sexual maturity is reached. Arthropods must shed the exoskeleton in order to grow or ass ...
.
They are a pale-blue or green color, with red dots along their sides and yellow spines.
Diet
As an adult, the Hercules moth does not eat. Their larvae will feed on the leaves of rainforest trees such as ''
Dysoxylum muelleri
''Dysoxylum'' is a flowering plant genus of trees and shrubs from the mahogany family, Meliaceae.
Botanical science has recorded about eighty species in this genus, growing widely across the regions of Malesia, the western Pacific ocean, Austra ...
,
Glochidion ferdinandi
''Glochidion ferdinandi'', with common names that include cheese tree (see below), is a species of small to medium–sized trees, constituting part of the plant family Phyllanthaceae. They grow naturally across eastern Australia, from south–eas ...
,
Timonius rumphii
''Timonius'' is a genus of plants in the family Rubiaceae. It is the second most specious genus in the family in Papua New Guinea, containing about 80 species known to science,Bryan, J.E., Shearman, P.L. (Eds.). 2015. The State of the Forests of ...
,'' and ''
Timonius singularis
''Timonius'' is a genus of plants in the family Rubiaceae. It is the second most specious genus in the family in Papua New Guinea, containing about 80 species known to science,Bryan, J.E., Shearman, P.L. (Eds.). 2015. The State of the Forests of ...
'', but prefer to eat the leaves of the Bleeding Heart tree (''
Homalanthus populifolius
''Homalanthus populifolius'', the bleeding heart, native poplar or Queensland poplar, is an Australian rainforest plant in the family Euphorbiaceae. It often appears in areas of rainforest disturbance. Bleeding heart is highly regarded by rainfor ...
'').
References
External links
''CSIRO - Australian Moths Online''
Saturniinae
Moths described in 1876
{{Saturniidae-stub