The fourth Day-a dying giant Polyphemus moth.
by Shelli Fitzpatrick
Title
The fourth Day-a dying giant Polyphemus moth.
Artist
Shelli Fitzpatrick
Medium
Mixed Media - Digital Oil From Photo
Description
A giant brown Polyphemus moth lands in the shade of a green Hackberry tree in summer.
I was sitting under this hackberry tree in the summer one year when this enormous Polyphemus moth came flying raggedly in and landed on a small branch. He was bedraggled and torn and I could see daylight through his worn out wings. This was the place he came to die and after a few "gasping" flutters of his wings he was very still. I was able to capture a great shot of him and knew someday I would make a digital painting with the photo. When I looked him up in my field guides I discovered that in the adult stage these moths do not eat, they mate and only live for four days. I guess the day that I met him was the fourth day. I also learned that the eye spots that I thought had been broken or worn out so that you could see through them are supposed to be transparent and that this is the unique identifying characteristic of this species of moth. You might wonder why I call him a he, that is something else I learned, the fuzzy antennae give away his sex.
Uploaded
November 17th, 2017
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