Owl Moths, Hawk Moths.. giants

[desertanimal]

All the white, fragrant, night-blooming flowers are going to be pollinated by either moths or bats (but if they're small, moths). Fragrant to attract the pollinators, fragrant at night to attract the nocturnal pollinators, and white for maximum visibility in low-light. In some cases, there's pretty tight co-evolution between plant species and moth pollinators (yuccas are one example and I suppose Angraecum is another!).

[Dante1709]

Originally Posted by kindrag23

These buggers lay eggs in my hibiscus each year. Their larvea look like grub worms on steroids! And u wanna know what a screaming hissy fit looks like it was me when one of those latched onto my hand when I was repotting!!! Their only saving grace is my plant does not seem to mind them no health or negative issues from them!

I was told they are agave moths.

I'm not sure if the moth photographed is laying eggs on your hibiscus ; it appears to be a Polyphemus moth (Antheraea polyphemus), which doesn't feed on hibiscus, and the larvae also photographed are significantly different from the larvae of this species. The adults have no functional mouth parts, and therefore, aren't attracted by your orchids or any flowers. As they don't have mouths, the adults cannot eat, so they usually breed and die within a week, sadly

If you're interested in having those larvae identified, you can always submit a photo or two to bugguide.com, although identifying larvae isn't the easiest thing to do.

Update : those larvae don't even look like they are Lepidopteran (moth and butterfly) larvae. I want to guess they are grubs, aka beetle larvae. I'm not acquainted with the pests of hibiscus, so I'm unsure.

[orchidsarefun]

moths I can handle, this thing is in a class of its own

World's largest, grossest aquatic insect discovered in Sichuan: Shanghaiist

[james mickelso]

This is called a Dalton fly though it's actually a beetle. Found in China, these beetles take the place of May flies found in North America. They swarm above lakes and rivers and lay their eggs by the millions in the water. They don't live long as adults but their larvae are a top predator in these bodies of water just as the May flies are here. I had two of these in the educational display at the San Diego County Fair this year. Very scary looking. I also had two hawk moths native to Madagascar of the species Charles Darwin predicted would be found. He discovered the Angaecum orchid and predicted that a hawk moth, who's tongue is 6 inches long, would fly at night when the orchid species Angaecum was in flower and fragrant. This orchid has a nectar spur 6 inches long and the hawk moth drinks the nectar at the bottom of the spur and thereby pulls off the pollenia on it's head and then flies to another flower to deposit the pollenia. Botanists found the hawk moth 40 years after Charles Darwin made the prediction. One of the hawk moths in the display had a tongue that is 12 inches long. This hawk moth dines on the nectar of an Angaecum flower that has a 12 inch long nectar spur. In the collection we had a dried Angaecum flower with a 6 inch long spur. Botanists named the hawk moths "Predicta" in honor of Charles Darwin. In a side note to this display, there were two of the worlds largest beetles (the size of your hand). It is so large it had to be named "big" twice. The name is Giganteus Titanus. Here is a pic of it. It's larvae is 6 inches long. Found in South America.

[james mickelso]

By and large, moths fly at night and butter flies fly during the day. I have a cactus which opens it's petals in the early evening and is closed by the time it starts to get light in the early morning. It is very, very fragrant. The hawk moths swarm the flowers. When I had my house in Ocean Beach near San Diego people would drive from all over to watch the cactus open and see the huge hawk moths come around to feast. I'd go out for my walk and there would be 15 to 20 folks out in my driveway looking at my cactus garden. I didn't mind. We'd chat for a long time. A lot of them were into cactus. I'd show them my extensive bonsai collection an my orchids. I had 62 varieties of cactus in my cactus garden. When I sold the house I'd go back to see the garden but the new owners let it die off. Still some of the larger specimens left but I don't go anymore.

[RJSquirrel]

they are plain scary when you aren't expecting one to hit you in the face. I feel much better knowing they don't have any mouth parts .

they are beautiful creatures and sound like b 52's when they take off...