Owl Moths, Hawk Moths.. giants

[RJSquirrel]

I thought I had a bat in my greenhouse the other night and but it was a huge scary moth. I finally caught him/her without bringing harm to and released the bat zized insect into the night.
Did some research on what this is doing in my greenhouse at night. It soon became clear some of the odd occurrences are now making sense. They are using my greenhouse as a nursery for more moths. An Owl moth /hawk moth. Small bird sized you get the idea.
I had been finding these small snail like things that are in fact moth eggs. I had been finding an odd caterpiller here and there buried down between some leaves on a few orchids. They do ruin a new shoot pretty fast. They been eating my dendrobium leaves particularly.

Thank goodness I have yet to find any monster sized caterpillar devasting my plants but In my hopes the frogs and lizards are controlling the caterpillars at this point. I know they eat the small moths. I find the wings everywhere

I just know the moths are there now and to look more carefully for the eggs and caterpillz offsprings ..

eggs


adult


what you would hate to see in your greenhouse.

[JMNYC]

O M G!!!!!!!!!!!! Terrifying! But, these creatures are also very beautiful!

You have frogs and lizards????? O! the food chain lives in your milieu!!!!!

[orchidsarefun]

I thought that tomato hornworm's diet ( hawkmoth ) was exclusively tomato plants. But I suppose they make take what they can get.
They have an interesting lifecycle. Once worms are mature, basically after stripping your tomato plants of foliage, they burrow into the soil and pupate. I kept a couple in a 2l coke bottle filled with soil. They burrowed to the bottom and about 3 weeks later emerged as moths. I would think they are a huge problem in warmer climes, with that fast life-cycle. Mine had hitched a ride on tomato seedlings that must have originally come from Florida or another warm place.

[DeaC]

Now I know where the casting call rejects from 'Silence of the Lambs' have gone!

[JMNYC]

Originally Posted by DeaC

Now I know where the casting call rejects from 'Silence of the Lambs' have gone!

Yay!!!! EXCELLLLENT!

---------- Post added at 03:19 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:36 PM ----------

Originally Posted by orchidsarefun

I thought that tomato hornworm's diet ( hawkmoth ) was exclusively tomato plants. But I suppose they make take what they can get.
They have an interesting lifecycle. Once worms are mature, basically after stripping your tomato plants of foliage, they burrow into the soil and pupate. I kept a couple in a 2l coke bottle filled with soil. They burrowed to the bottom and about 3 weeks later emerged as moths. I would think they are a huge problem in warmer climes, with that fast life-cycle. Mine had hitched a ride on tomato seedlings that must have originally come from Florida or another warm place.

Just that you were actually moved to 'keep a couple" in any bottle at all......confirms you are a true SEEKER.

[Dante1709]

Originally Posted by orchidsarefun

I thought that tomato hornworm's diet ( hawkmoth ) was exclusively tomato plants. But I suppose they make take what they can get.
They have an interesting lifecycle. Once worms are mature, basically after stripping your tomato plants of foliage, they burrow into the soil and pupate. I kept a couple in a 2l coke bottle filled with soil. They burrowed to the bottom and about 3 weeks later emerged as moths. I would think they are a huge problem in warmer climes, with that fast life-cycle. Mine had hitched a ride on tomato seedlings that must have originally come from Florida or another warm place.

Tomato hornworms are definitely not the only type of hawkmoth out there ; hawk moths and sphinx moths make up the family Sphingidae, with over 1,450 species. The host plants of their larvae vary greatly.

The tomato hornworms, for example, feed not only on tomatoes, but tobacco, and all types of plants from the Solanaceae family (nightshade family, with potatoes, peppers and eggplant in there as well)

[JMNYC]

Originally Posted by Dante1709

Tomato hornworms are definitely not the only type of hawkmoth out there ; hawk moths and sphinx moths make up the family Sphingidae, with over 1,450 species. The host plants of their larvae vary greatly.

Almost 1,5000 species!!!!!!! OMG! gotta be a very special human to be moved to study entomology, boy. I am open and shut not one of them.

But I am grateful they exist.

[Brooke]

I'm grateful they exist but not in my g/h! I found a huge moth on a Brassavola culculatta mount and immediately took it outside.

The best description of it is it looked like a moth on steroids dressed in combat gear.

Brooke

[JMNYC]

Originally Posted by Brooke

I'm grateful they exist but not in my g/h! I found a huge moth on a Brassavola culculatta mount and immediately took it outside.

The best description of it is it looked like a moth on steroids dressed in combat gear.

Brooke

Not ANYWHERE in proximity to ME!!!!!

Actually what I was sayin is, I am grateful people moved to study entomology exist.

I know full well all miraculous species are perfectly evolved, humbling members of the food chain and invaluable, but I am not a perfect human, so some just give me nitemares.

I have no insects on any plants including my giant houseplants, I know what to watch for.....BUT, once I took a large orchid to the sink to tend it, a catt; turned on the water to drench it and the most terrifying, primitive looking creature ran up from the tree fern, and at warp speed! I screamed at the top of my lungs. I went online and found out it was an Earwig. O M G.

[Dante1709]

Originally Posted by JMNYC

Almost 1,5000 species!!!!!!! OMG! gotta be a very special human to be moved to study entomology, boy. I am open and shut not one of them.

But I am grateful they exist.

I got that number from Wikipedia, but other than that, I've picked up that information by doing research for Yahoo! Answers questions ; I used to be the 10th top answerer in the zoology section, until my account stopped working. Although I do like biology, entomology is very heavy, considering there are so many species of insects. I'd rather say learning, than call it studying.