World’s Weirdest Moths

Butterflies and moths belong to the order Lepidoptera, which is derived from the Greek words for "scaled wing." There are over 180,000 species in this order, only about 10 percent, however, are butterflies - the rest are moths. The first primitive moths evolved over 140 million years ago (butterflies, the belles of the ball, came fashionably late about 40 million years ago).

Moths are usually glossed over for butterflies, their "prettier, more attractive" cousins. But no more! Neatorama is setting the record straight: moths are truly awesome bugs! Here are some of the strangest and most beautiful moths of the world.



Brahmin Moth
Those who say moths aren’t as beautiful obviously haven’t seen the Owl or Brahmin moth family with lots of large, brown moths with intricately patterned wings.



Luna Moth

True, most moths have drab colors, but this isn’t the case with the gorgeous Luna Moth (Actias luna), which has large, shimmery lime-green wings with undulating "tails." Like some other moths (see below), the adult Luna moth does not have mouth and does not eat - it lives for only about one week, with the singular purpose of mating!



Atlas Moth and White Witch

The Atlas moth (Attacus atlas) is considered the world’s largest moth by total wing surface area. The moth’s cocoon is so large that it’s used as a lucky charm in in Africa, pocket purses in Taiwan and ankle rattles in Mexico.

Large as it is, like the Luna moth, the adult Atlas moth has no mouth and cannot eat throughout its one to two weeks life (it does all its eating in the larva stage).

In terms of wingspan, however, the white witch moth (Thysania agrippina or Giant aggrippina) is larger: fully stretched, its wingspan can be as wide as 12 inches (30.5 cm). When flying, this moth is usually mistaken as a bat!



Io Moth

When threatened, the Io moths (Automeris io) will spread their wings to reveal a startling eyespot pattern, used to deter predators!

The beautiful io moth larva is actually considered a pest - it eats the leaves of hundreds of plant species, and has venomous spikes that can be quite painful when handled. In a twist of fate, the ravenous larva grows up to be a beautiful adult moth that, like the Atlas moth, has no mouth so it cannot eat!