Monsoon Beauty Highlights 15th Jul. - 12th Aug. 23)

Today we share a final moth from National Moth Week 2023, and also the last in our series of spiders in the lead up to tomorrows -Monsoon Beauty Talks : The Amazing World of Spiders (Sunday 13th Aug. 2023

NMW Day 10. 30th July 2023 - India Moon Moth

What better way to conclude the highlights from NMW 23 then an awesome Indian Moon Moth Indian Moon Moth (Actias selene)

Insects : Moths

Animals - Arthropods - Hexapods - Insects - Winged & Once-winged Insects - Butterflies & Moths (Lepidoptera) - Hawk, Sphinx, Silk, Emperor, and Allied Moths - Emperor and Giant Silk Moths - Emperor Moths - Tribe Saturniini - Moon Moths

Cocoon - Community for Conservation of Nature, a Non Profit had organized a series of mothing events in Gujarat, during National Moth Week 2023, of the many wonderful moths observed by them we are happy to share an Indian Moon Moth (Actias selene) from Kanjeta, Gujarat India.

Coincidentally, the Moon was almost full on the 31st of July (official full moon was on the 1st of August 2023)

This is the Indian Moon Moth (Actias selene) by Venus Joshi

While Tarik Qureshi shares this observation , also from Kanjeta, Gujarat India.

Picture @birderbaba

Location : Ratanmahal Sloth Bear Sanctuary, Kanjeta, Gujarat, India

Observed on: 31st July 2023 (4:04 am)

Venus Joshi is on instagram as birderbaba

Picture @leopards

Location : Ratanmahal Sloth Bear Sanctuary, Kanjeta, Gujarat, India

Observed on: 31st July 2023 (5:30 am)

Tarik is on instagram here as densloepard

Why are they called Moon Moths ?

Moon moths are named after the ‘moon spots’ that appear on their wings. You can see them on the Indian moon moth (Actias selene) pictured above. They look like tiny pink moons at different phases.

These wing spots are a feature not just of moon moths, but of the entire Saturniidae family they belong to. Saturniid moths are named after the way that some species’ wing spots look like little ringed planets.

Arachnid : Spiders

Animals - Arthropods - Chelicerates - Arachnids- Spiders - Typical Spiders - Entelegyne Spiders -Crab & Running Crab Spiders - Crab Spiders - Subfamily Thomisinae - Tribe Thomisini - Flower Crab Spiders

Caught in the act by Vidhya Swaminathan, this Masked Crab Spider (Thomisus labefactus) is the main protagonist in "the drama of everyday life in flowers".

Observation @vidswami

lead identifier @sagarika_chen

Location : Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India

Observed on: 29th July 2023

Vidhya shares nature stories on instagram vidswami

Why are they called Crab Spiders ?

The genus Thomisus of Crab Spider includes species that vary widely in their ecology, with some that are ambush predators that feed on insects visiting flowers. Like several other genera in the family Thomisidae, they are sometimes referred to as flower crab spiders, from their crab-like motion and their way of holding their front legs, reminiscent of a crab spreading its claws as a threat.

Many species are brightly coloured, usually matching the color of the flower in which they are waiting in ambush. Not all species are flower-dwelling, but among those that are, at least some species can change their colour over a period of some days to match the flower colour
(Source : Wikipedia)

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Posted on August 12, 2023 10:53 AM by ram_k