Cecropia Moth + 9 Moths in Slow Motion!

This is North America's biggest species of moth, the Cecropia moth. It's an insect that's been on my list of things to film and flight for a long time. And that's not just because it's one of the biggest moths, but also because, to my eye, it's one of the coolest looking moth species we have. For instance, from this view, looking across its back, I'm impressed by the orange and white candy stripes across its abdomen, and how a single stripe of that pattern extends across the hind wing, echoing the curve of the wing's edge behind it. Once a Cecropia moth becomes this well-decorated adult version of itself, its life is nearly over. Adult females can't eat. They only live a few weeks, so they can mate and do this, lay eggs. This one I filmed was being bred by our animal care staff here at the museum for one of our live exhibits. These eggs hatch into larvae and grow through five larval caterpillar stages. They'll overwinter as a pupa, and in the early summer, appear again in this, their final adult winged form. So whenever I come across an interesting moth, I try to see if I can film it. There are so many different species, and I'm always surprised by the details you can see as they lift off into the air. Some of them, like this plume moth, are trickier to get good sequences of. Plume moths, especially compared to things like Cecropia moths, are small and delicate. As you can see, I had to coax this one into place with a tiny paintbrush. With their long, spindly legs, they kind of look like they're galloping up into the air. And check out the hind wings. They're divided into three feather-like plumes. These two sequences are the best I've been able to do so far with this group. But this individual only has one hind leg, and I wasn't able to get the paintbrush out of the frame before it flew. So for now, these are the best shots I have of this odd-looking family of moths. This is a red-bordered emerald moth. These are common moths in my own backyard. At rest, their strikingly green wings are held flat and spread to their sides. And if they're resting on a leaf, that color and posture blend them in pretty well. But against a contrasting backdrop like the side of a tree, or in front of this purple film set, the green of these moths make them hard to miss. They belong to the Geometridae family of moths, of which there are over 20,000 species worldwide. This family is named after their famous inch-worming caterpillars that seem to measure the earth with each one of their looping steps. Geometrids across most of their group rest in that outstretched posture. Take for instance this one, a one-spotted variant. As the two on the right lift off, you can see the one on the left standing still in that posture, with its wings spread out. As it lifts them to get into a flight, it looks as if it's using all six of its legs to jumpstart getting into the air. The reason why it's important to know that Geometrid moths rest with their wings held out is because of this moth, perhaps the most famous of all the Geometrids, the peppered moth. This species is found across the Northern Hemisphere from Asia to North America, and studies of it in England have made it a classic example of natural selection in action. And that's because all peppered moths don't look like this one. They can be variable in color, from a white and black spotted form that blends in with patterns and colors of lichen on tree bark, to a melanic form that's uniformly dark all over. During the day, these moths are resting on the trunks and branches of trees, and their survival partially depends on how well they're camouflaged from birds that would eat them. During the Industrial Revolution in England, acid rain killed the lichen and soot darkened the trunks of the trees. Correspondingly, the dark version of the moth was more camouflaged and dramatically increased in abundance. But, in more recent times, the lighter colored moths similar to this one returned to being the more abundant type after pollution was better regulated and the resting places lightened up. The dramatic changes in the abundances of this moth's different color morphs made it an early and observable example of natural selection in action. This next moth is also one whose environment has changed dramatically. This is an Ailanthus webworm, and it's become one of the most common and colorful moths I can find in my own backyard. It used to be found only in the American tropics, but its larvae figured out how to live on the invasive and widespread tree of heaven. So because that host plant occurs nearly everywhere, you can find this moth all over the eastern US and north into Canada too. At rest, only the forewings are visible, which is probably why the coloration pattern doesn't extend to the hindwings as well. This orange, black, and white color scheme of the forewings is one that several groups of moths share. For instance, this is a black dotted spragia moth. This brightly colored moth belongs to a subfamily of owlets known as bird dropping moths. But this species doesn't quite fit that mimicry pattern. Instead, this moth is often seen and photographed in the coastal southeast feeding on and pollinating flowers in the daytime. This is another owlet or noctuid moth called the Hebrew. The name is in reference to the marks on its wings, which in 1818, the original describer of the moth thought resembled characters of the Hebrew alphabet. Its upwards, backward arching flight, along with its body shape and dull, slightly transparent hindwings remind me of a different kind of insect in flight, a caddisfly. This is a white miller caddisfly, and it's one of the coolest looking insects I've filmed within the last year. Caddisflies are an order of insects that sister to moths and butterflies, which means caddisflies are a moth's closest living relative. And I think in this flight footage, you can see glimpses of that relationship. Last is an arched hook tip moth. Moths in this family are known and named for their distinctive wing shape. And I like how this species is uniformly covered in tan and almost gold colored scales across its entire body. It can be found from western Canada all the way down to where I am in North Carolina. So that was nine moth species across six taxonomic families. And there are over a hundred different families of moths, so I have a lot left to film. If you want to get the scientific names for everything you just saw, I put those in the video description below. Thanks for watching.