---
title: "What the sources say about the Luna Moth | AnimalTracks.wiki"
description: "49 claims from the Luna Moth profile, each beside the words of the source that backs it."
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canonical: "https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/luna-moth/sources/"
---

# What the sources say about the Luna Moth (*Actias luna*)

> 49 claims from the Luna Moth profile, each beside the words of the source that backs it. A "..." marks a cut in a quote and [brackets] an insertion.

Profile: [Luna Moth](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/luna-moth/)

## Hall (2007). Luna Moth, Actias (=Tropaea) luna (Linneaus) (Insecta: Lepidoptera: Saturniidae: Saturniinae). EDIS, University of Florida.

https://doi.org/10.32473/edis-in737-2007

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| adults do not eat | Adults have vestigial mouthparts and do not feed. (note: tagline) |
| Forested areas of eastern North America, from southern Canada to Florida | In the U.S., it is found in every eastern state from Maine south to Florida (note: stats.habitat; eastern and Florida) |
| adults do not feed | Adults have vestigial mouthparts and do not feed. (note: stats.diet) |
| with a long tail trailing from each hindwing | moths with a long tail on each hind wing |
| The adult wingspan is 75 to 105 mm, about 3 to 4 inches. | The adult wingspan is 75 to 105 mm (note: 75-105 mm is 2.95 to 4.13 in) |
| it usually emerges in the morning, which allows time for its wings to expand and dry before the evening flight period | Morning emergence allows time for expansion and drying of the wings prior to the evening flight period. |
| Adults have vestigial (leftover) mouthparts and do not feed, so they are short-lived. | Adults have vestigial mouthparts and do not feed. Therefore, they are short-lived. |
| A new adult cuts its way out of the cocoon with serrated, chitinous spurs on its thorax | It then cuts its way from the cocoon by the use of serrated, chitinous spurs on its thorax |
| it usually emerges in the morning | Adult eclosion (emergence from pupa) typically occurs in the morning with males usually beginning emergence several days before females. Morning emergence allows time for expansion and drying of the wings prior to the evening flight period. |
| A female releases a sex-attractant pheromone, a scent signal, and may attract males from a distance. | Females release a sex-attractant pheromone and may attract males from a distance. |
| Mating usually takes place during the first couple of hours after midnight. | Mating usually takes place during the first couple of hours after midnight. |
| A full-grown caterpillar is bright green and 55 to 70 mm long. | The bright green full-grown caterpillars are 55 to 70 mm in length |
| Its green coloration hides it | Luna caterpillars gain protection from predators by their cryptic green coloration. |
| when threatened it often rears up the front of its body in a "sphinx" pose | When threatened they often rear the front part of the body in a |
| If attacked, it also makes a clicking noise with its mandibles, sometimes as a prelude to, or alongside, spitting up distasteful fluid. | If attacked, luna caterpillars as well as those of many other bombycoid moths make a clicking noise with the mandibles – sometimes as a prelude to or accompanied by defensive regurgitation of distasteful fluids. |
| The northernmost populations most often eat white birch. | Northernmost populations most often utilize white birch, Betula papyrifera Marsh, as a host. |
| Farther south, caterpillars use a variety of host plants, particularly walnuts and hickories, sumacs, sweetgum and persimmon. | More southerly populations use a variety of host plants particularly members of the walnut family Juglandaceae (walnuts [ Juglans ] and hickories, [ Carya] ); sumacs ( Rhus ); sweetgum, Liquidambar styraciflua L.; and persimmon, Diospyros virginiana L. |
| Development from hatching to pupation takes a month or longer, depending on temperature. | Development from hatching to pupation takes a month or longer depending on temperature. |
| The luna moth is usually found in forested areas. In southern Canada it occurs from Nova Scotia to Saskatchewan. | Usually found in forested areas. In southern Canada it occurs from Nova Scotia to Saskatchewan. |
| In the United States it is found in every eastern state from Maine south to Florida, and west to eastern Texas and eastern North Dakota. | In the U.S., it is found in every eastern state from Maine south to Florida and west to eastern Texas and eastern North Dakota. |
| Moths from southern populations tend to be smaller. | Moths from southern populations tend to be smaller. |
| Adults are strongly drawn to light, especially ultraviolet wavelengths. | The adults are strongly attracted to light – particularly UV wavelengths. |
| A University of Florida fact sheet reports some concern that light pollution, particularly mercury vapor street lights, may deter luna moths and other silk moths from mating in cities. | There has been some concern that light pollution from man-made sources (particularly mercury vapor street lights) may deter lunas and other silk moths from mating and have a negative impact on their populations in urban areas |
| Northern populations from Michigan up have one generation, the Ohio Valley has two, and the south has three. | The luna moth is univoltine (one generation) from Michigan northward, bivoltine throughout the Ohio Valley, and trivoltine southward |
| In Louisiana and Florida, adults can be found in every month of the year. | In Louisiana and Florida, adults may be found during every month of the year |
| The cocoon is spun among the leaves but is not anchored to a twig. | The cocoon is spun among the leaves of the deciduous host plants but is not anchored to a twig |
| It falls to the ground in autumn as the leaves fall | they fall to the ground in autumn (Holland 1968) as the leaves fall |
| cocoons are not commonly seen. | as the leaves fall and are not commonly seen |

## Barber et al. (2015). Moth tails divert bat attack: Evolution of acoustic deflection. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1421926112

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| A big green silk moth whose spinning hindwing tails pull bat attacks off its body, and whose adults do not eat. | luna moths (Actias luna) generate an acoustic diversion with spinning hindwing tails to deflect echolocating bat attacks away from their body and toward these nonessential appendages (note: tagline; adults half claimed below) |
| Spinning hindwing tails that gave tailed moths a survival advantage of about 47% over tailless ones against big brown bats | We pit luna moths against big brown bats (Eptesicus fuscus) and demonstrate a survival advantage of ∼ 47% for moths with tails versus those that had their tails removed. (note: stats.superpower) |
| Those tails are decoys. | Moth tails lured bat attacks to these wing regions (note: decoy = lure, the abstract's verb) |
| Researchers used high-speed infrared video to watch luna moths spin their tails to deflect attacks by echolocating bats | Using high-speed infrared videography, we show that luna moths (Actias luna) generate an acoustic diversion with spinning hindwing tails to deflect echolocating bat attacks |
| away from the body and toward the tails. | to deflect echolocating bat attacks away from their body and toward these nonessential appendages |
| Four times over | long spatulate tails have independently evolved four times in saturniid moths (note: blockquote lead) |
| Tails lured bat attacks to themselves in 55% of encounters with intact moths | Moth tails lured bat attacks to these wing regions during 55% of interactions between bats and intact luna moths. |
| moths with tails had a survival advantage of about 47% over moths whose tails were removed | demonstrate a survival advantage of ∼ 47% for moths with tails versus those that had their tails removed |
| Long spatulate (spatula-shaped) tails have evolved independently four times in saturniid moths | long spatulate tails have independently evolved four times in saturniid moths |
| Its hindwing tails lured bat attacks to themselves in 55% of encounters | Moth tails lured bat attacks to these wing regions during 55% of interactions between bats and intact luna moths (note: vibe.reason) |
| tags: bizarre-anatomy | luna moths (Actias luna) generate an acoustic diversion with spinning hindwing tails to deflect echolocating bat attacks away from their body and toward these nonessential appendages (note: task #1110: kept; no defence tag covers a decoy structure (mimicry is impersonation, cryptic is stillness), and a spinning acoustic decoy is an unconventional body structure) |

## Lee & Moss (2016). Can the elongated hindwing tails of fluttering moths serve as false sonar targets to divert bat attacks? The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America.

https://doi.org/10.1121/1.4947423

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| A second study found that the tail echoes are weak compared with those of the wings and body. | the results show that the tail echoes are weak and do not dominate the sonar returns, compared to the large, planar wings and the moth body |
| Their twisted shape, though, creates echoes that persist from every angle, which may make a bat misjudge where the moth is. | the distinctive twisted morphology of the tails create persistent echoes across all angles of orientation, which may induce erroneous sonar target localization and disrupt accurate tracking by echolocating bats |

## Brown, Boettner & Yack (2007). Clicking caterpillars: acoustic aposematism in Antheraea polyphemus and other Bombycoidea. Journal of Experimental Biology.

https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.001990

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| A study of clicking caterpillars found that luna caterpillars make airborne sounds upon attack, and that the sounds precede regurgitation. | other Bombycoidea species, including Actias luna (Saturniidae) and Manduca sexta (Sphingidae), also produce airborne sounds upon attack, and that these sounds precede regurgitation |

## Millar et al. (2016). Sex Attractant Pheromone of the Luna Moth, Actias luna (Linnaeus). Journal of Chemical Ecology.

https://doi.org/10.1007/s10886-016-0751-6

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| The luna moth (Actias luna) is a pale green giant silk moth | a giant silk moth, the luna moth Actias luna |
| the family of giant silk moths the luna belongs to | Giant silk moths (Lepidoptera: Saturniidae) |
| Researchers identified its compounds, made them artificially, and found in field trials in Ontario and Kentucky that male moths were attracted to one of them on its own. | These identifications were confirmed by synthesis, followed by testing of blends of the synthetic compounds in field trials in Ontario, Canada, and Kentucky, USA. Male moths were attracted to synthetic E6,Z11-18:Ald as a single component. |

## Actias luna (luna moth). Animal Diversity Web, University of Michigan.

https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Actias_luna/

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| Forested areas of eastern North America, from southern Canada to Florida | The luna moth occurs in the forested areas of North America (note: stats.habitat; range detail claimed in the body from Hall 2007) |
| Leaves of trees such as birch, hickory, walnut, sweetgum and persimmon as a caterpillar; adults do not feed | As a caterpillar it feeds on the foliage of various species of hickory, walnut, sweet-gum, persimmon, and birch trees (note: stats.diet) |
| Not Evaluated | IUCN Red List Not Evaluated (note: stats.conservationStatus; ADW only, prefetch found no Red List assessment) |
| pale green | varying in color from yellowish green to pale bluish green |