Mothra might not be real ( * sighs * ) , but secure believe nature has try on its stratum best to create some behe - moth of its own . There ’s theAtlas moth , of trend , but … oh damn , what ’s that in the distance ? Is it a modest bird ? A delightfully fluffy little foreign ? Nope – it ’s the jumbo forest moth ( Endoxyla cinereus ) , and it ’s the heavy moth on the satellite .
Big ol’ bug
Okay , so the giant woods moth is n’t exactly of kaiju balance , but in insect term , it ’s stillpretty hefty ; some distaff member of this metal money have a wingspan of around 23 centimeters ( 9 column inch ) and can weigh up to 30 Hans C. J. Gram ( 1.1 oz. ) .
If you ’ve got a stock AA electric battery hanging about , pop that in your hand – that ’s about the same weight , give a few grams ( and much less terrific to guard , depending on how you feel about gargantuan insects ) .
ⓘ IFLScience is not responsible for for content shared from extraneous website .
Males , however , arearound halfthe size of the females – further evidence thatsexual dimorphismin the animal world does n’t always mean that Male are the larger of the two .
Being so heavy also means that the giant Natalie Wood moth is n’t much of a flier .
" They fly very , very badly , " Dr Christine Lambkin – who , prior to retreat , was Curator of Entomology at Queensland Museum – toldABC News . " In most display case when they emerge , the female , they just crawl up a local tree or stump of a fence post and sit there and wait for males to come up them . "
Where are giant wood moths found?
If we ’ve stimulate you wondering where just to go ( or where to avoid going ) to see a elephantine Sir Henry Wood moth , you ’d comfortably mosey on over to Australia – they ’re in the first place found in Queensland and New South Wales .
However , spotting one of these heavyweight in their grownup form is rare . They pass much of their three to four - year lifespan as larvae , commonly known as witchetty grubs . Even seeing one of these grubs can be uncommon – they ’re typically burrowed deep within trees .
" They stay like that for two or three years , with a central bore mighty in [ the ] nitty-gritty of [ the ] tree and then just before they turn into a pupa , they cut out a lap of barque … and build a series of defences against ants and other insects , " Ted Edwards , honorary fellow of the Australian National Insect Collection , severalize ABC News .
Once they emerge from their chrysalis , the female grownup giant woodmothsare not farsighted for this universe , and are ineffective to deplete or drink .
" They only know for a few days as adults , " explained Lambkin . " They issue , they match , they lay testis , they die . "
Ooft .
