Moths

Moths

The Christoph and Martina Weller family with Lukas and Lea have taken over the sponsorship of the moth Athletes semialba.

There is no German name for this member of the Emperor Moths family (Latin family name: Saturniidae).

The animals are brownish in colour, with dark brown transverse lines and a broad, white front edge of the forewings, to which they owe their species name. At rest, they resemble a lichen-covered piece of bark and are excellently camouflaged. On their hind wings they have large, red-rimmed eyespots, which they suddenly display when disturbed or threatened, thus simulating a much larger animal. Attackers are often impressed by this and give up the threatening-looking prey.
The wingspan of this species can be up to 15 cm.

Their distribution area includes Tanzania and Malawi. Unfortunately, not much is known about the biology of these beautiful animals, nor on which plant the caterpillars live there. However, they have already been bred in Europe on willow and Liquidambar.